Animorphs Dementia
by Veravine
Summary: When dimensions collide, you meet the strangest people... (*language warning throughout*)
1. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them. We all know of the battles they face, the battles they fight with the only weapons they have - themselves.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science-fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs _Dementia_ #1 - The Confusion

__

Long before....

My name is Jack. That's my first name, obviously - or, at least, my nickname. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. _Everywhere_. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then... well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about.

I won't even tell you where I live. You'll just have to trust me that it is a real place, a real town. It may even be YOUR town.

I'm writing this all down so that more people will learn the truth. Maybe then, somehow, the human race can survive until the Andalites return and rescue us, as they promised they would.

Maybe.

My life used to be pretty normal. Normal, that is, until one Friday night at the mall. I was there with Maria, my best friend. We were checking out the comic books and hanging out at this cool store that sells them and other neat stuff. You know, the usual.

Maria was out of money even though her reserved comics were in, so I lent her what I had. It was barely enough. We're both into comics, but Maria is REALLY into them, if you know what I mean. Normally I wouldn't "lend" Maria money, because I know she can't pay me back, but she's my best friend, and I wanted to be nice.

Also, I was a little distracted, and saying "uh-huh" to anything Maria said to me. I'd had kind of a bad day at school. I'd tried out for the volleyball team and I didn't make the cut.

It was like no big deal, really. Except that Tara - she's my big sister - she was this total legend on the junior high volleyball team. So everyone expected me to make the team easy. Only I didn't.

Like I said, no big thing. But it was on my mind, just the same. Lately, Tara and I hadn't been hanging out as much. Not like we used to. So I figured, you know, if I got on the team...

Well, anyway, neither of us had money (anymore, in my case), so we stepped out of the store onto the crossway, and who should I bump into but Tonya. Tonya was... I mean, I guess she still IS kind of a strange girl. She was new at school, and she wasn't adapting well, I guess. She got picked on a lot.

I actually met Tonya when she had her head in a toilet. I saw these two bullies drag her into the boy's bathroom. They held her down and laughed while they flushed, sending Tonya's straggly blond hair swirling around the bowl. I told the creeps to step off. They told me I didn't belong in the boy's bathroom. At that point, a monitor who had seen me go into the boy's bathroom came in, saw what had happened to Tonya, and the two creeps got suspended for a day. I was just told not to go into boy's bathrooms anymore. Ever since then, Tonya figured I was her friend.

"What's up?" Tonya asked.

I shrugged. "Not much. We're heading home."

"So, like maybe I'll walk home with you guys," Tonya said.

I said sure. Why not?

We were heading for the exit when I spotted Richard and Christopher. Rich is kind of cute, I guess. I mean, okay, he's REALLY cute, although, since he's my cousin, I don't really think about him that way. He has blond hair and blue eyes and that kind of very clean, very wholesome look. He's one of those people who always knows what clothes to wear and how to look like they just stepped off a movie set. He's also very strong because he's really into sports, even though he says he's too slow to ever be really good at anything in particular.

Chris is sort of the opposite. For one thing, he's usually wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, or something else real casual. He's black and wears his hair very short most of the time. He had it longer for a while, but then he went back to short, which I like. Chris is quieter than Rich, more peaceful, like he always understands everything on some different, more mystical level.

I guess you could say I kind of LIKE Chris. Sometimes we sit together on the bus, even though I never know what to say to him.

"You guys going home?" Rich asked. "You shouldn't go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all."

That was a mistake. Rich should never have suggested to Maria that she's weak or helpless. Maria may LOOK like Little Miss Teen Model or whatever, but she thinks she's Storm from the X-Men - sometimes literally.

"Are you going to come and protect us, you big, strong m-a-a-a-n?" she said. "You think we're helpless just because-"

"Please don't start, Maria," I said, rolling my eyes. Rich had a strange look on his face. Rich's kind of a chauvinist sometimes; he didn't see what was wrong with what he'd said. I grinned at him. "Sure, you can walk us home, Rich. Maria can protect you."

"It's better if we go in a group anyway," Chris said. "Then we don't really have to worry about anybody protecting anybody."

Rich and Maria couldn't argue much with that. That's the way Chris is - he always has the right words to stop any argument without making anyone feel bad.

So, there we were. The five of us - Maria, Tonya, Richard, Christopher, and me. Five normal mall rats heading home.

Sometimes I think about that one, last moment when we were still just normal kids. It's like it was a million years ago, like it was some totally different group of kids. You know what I was afraid of right then? I was afraid of admitting to Tara that I hadn't made the team. That was as scary as life got back then.

Five minutes later, life got a lot scarier.

To get home from the mall we could either go the long way around, which is the safe way, or we could cut through this abandoned construction site and hope there weren't any ax murderers hanging around there. My mom and dad have sworn to ground me until I'm twenty if they ever find out I've cut through the construction site.

So anyway, we crossed the road and headed into the abandoned construction site. It was a big area, surrounded on two sides by trees, with the highway separating it from the mall area. There's a broad, open field between the construction site and the nearest houses. It's a very isolated place.

Originally it was supposed to be this new shopping center. Now it was just all these half-finished buildings looking like a ghost town. There were huge piles of rusted steel beams; pyramids of giant concrete pipes; little mountains of dirt; deep pits that had filled up with black, muddy water; and a creaking, rusted construction crane that I had climbed once while Maria stayed below and told me I was being an idiot.

It was a totally deserted place, full of shadows and sounds that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. When Maria and I went there during the day, we always found all these beer cans and liquor bottles. Sometimes we found the ashes of little campfires back in the hidden nooks and crannies of the buildings. So we knew that people came there at night. All that was on my mind as we crept through the site.

It was Tonya who saw it first. She had been walking along, gazing up at the sky. I guess she was looking at the stars or something. That's the way Tonya is sometimes - off in her own world.

Suddenly Tonya stopped. She was pointing. Pointing almost straight up. "Look," she said.

"What?" I didn't want to be distracted because I was pretty sure I'd heard the sound of a chain-saw killer creeping up behind us. Of course, it might also have been Rich dragging his feet, but I didn't think of that then.

"Just look," Tonya said. Her voice was strange. Amazed-sounding, but serious at the same time.

So I looked up. And there it was. A brilliant, blue-white light that scooted across the sky, going fast at first, too fast for it to be an airplane, then slower and slower. "What is it?"

Tonya shook her head. "I don't know."

I looked at Tonya and she looked back at me. We both knew what we THOUGHT it was, but we didn't want to say it. Maria and Rich would have laughed, we figured.

But Chris just blurted it right out. "It's a flying saucer!"

"A flying saucer?" Maria echoed. She DID laugh. That is, until she looked up.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I felt weird and excited and afraid, all at once.

"It's coming this way," Richard said.

"It's hard to be sure." I could barely whisper, my mouth was so dry.

"No, it's coming this way," Rich said. He has a definite, almost condescending way of talking. Like he's totally sure of everything he says, and anyone who contradicts him has to be an idiot.

Rich was right. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. And it was slowing down. Now I could see pretty clearly what it looked like.

"It's not exactly a flying saucer," I said.

First of all, it wasn't all that big. It was about as long as a school bus. The front end was a pod, shaped almost like an egg. Extending from the back of the pod was a long, narrow shaft. There were two crooked, stubby winglike things, and on the end of each wing was a long tube that glowed bright blue on the back end.

The little spaceship looked almost cute. You know, kind of harmless. Except that it had a sort of tail - a mean-looking tail that curved up and forward, coming to a point that looked as sharp as a needle.

"That tail thing," I said. "It looks like a weapon."

"Definitely," Maria agreed.

The little ship kept coming nearer, going slower all the time.

"It's stopping," Rich said. He had the same strange, not-quite-real tone in his voice that I had. Like we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Like maybe we didn't _want_ to believe.

"I think it sees us," Maria said. "Should we run? Maybe we should run home and get a camera. Do you know how much money we could get for a video of a real UFO?"

"If we run, they might... I don't know, zap us with phasers on full power," I said. I meant it as a joke. Kind of.

"Phasers are only on Star Trek," Maria said, rolling her eyes the way she does when she thinks I'm being a dweeb. Like she was some kind of expert on alien spaceships. Right.

The ship stopped and hovered almost directly over our heads, maybe a hundred feet in the air. I could feel the hair on my head stand on end. When I glanced at Maria it was almost funny. She has this long dark hair and it was sticking straight out in every direction. Of course, mine was probably doing the same thing, even though it's only shoulderlength. Tonya's hair wasn't any longer than Rich's, but both of them still looked weird. Of us all, only Chris looked normal.

"What do you think it is?" Maria asked. She sounded a little shakier, not so laid-back now that the thing was so close. To be honest, I was a little scared, too. A LITTLE scared, as in so terrified I couldn't move. But at the same time, it was all so cool, beyond any coolness ever. I mean, it was a spaceship! Right there over my head.

Tonya was actually grinning, but that's Tonya for you. She's never scared of weird stuff. It's the normal stuff she can't stand. "I think it's going to land," she said, this huge smile on her face. Her eyes were bright and excited, and her blond hair was standing up in clumps.

The ship began to descend. "It's coming right at us!" I cried.

I had to fight an urge to run yammering across the field all the way home, where I could crawl into my bed and pull the covers over my head. But I knew that this was an important, amazing thing. I knew I had to stay and see it all.

I guess the others felt the same way, because we all just stood there, as the ship hummed and glowed and slowly settled down in an open space between piles of junk and tumbled walls. I noticed there were black burn marks along the top of the pod section. Some of the skin of the pod had been melted. It touched the ground and instantly the blue lights went off. Everyone's hair fell back down onto our necks.

"It isn't very big, is it?" Rich whispered.

"It's about-" I tried to think- "about three or four times as big as our minivan."

"We should tell someone," Maria said. "I mean, this is kind of major, you know? Spaceships don't just land in the construction site every day. We should call the cops or the army or the president or _something_. We'd be totally famous. We'd get to be on TV for sure."

"Yeah, you're right," I agreed. "We should call someone." But none of us moved. None of us was just going to walk away from a spaceship.

"I wonder if we should try and talk to it," Rich suggested. He was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at the spaceship like it was an opponent he was measuring up. "I mean, we should communicate. If that's even possible."

Tonya nodded. She stepped forward and held out her hands. I guess she was showing whoever was in the ship that she wasn't carrying any kind of weapon or anything. "It's safe," she said in a loud, clear voice. "We won't hurt you."

"Do you think they speak English?" I wondered.

"Well, everyone speaks English on Star Trek," Chris said with a nervous laugh. If he was trying to make me feel less scared, it didn't help.

Tonya tried again. "Please, come out. We won't hurt you."

I know.

I froze. Okay, I had definitely heard someone say "I know," only... there hadn't been any sound. I mean, I heard it, but I didn't really hear it.

Maybe this WAS all a dream. I looked kind of sideways at Chris. He looked back at me. Our eyes met. He had heard it, too. I looked at Rich. He was turning his head back and forth, like he was looking for where that sound - that wasn't a sound - could have come from. I started to get a sick, twisty feeling in my stomach.

"Did everyone hear that?" Tonya asked us calmly.

We all nodded at once, very slowly.

"Can you come out?" Tonya asked in her loud, talking-to-aliens- voice.

Yes. Do not be frightened.

"We won't be frightened," Tonya said.

"Speak for yourself," I muttered. The others giggled nervously.

A thin arc of light appeared, a doorway, opening slowly in the smooth side of the pod part of the ship. I stood there, totally hypnotized. I just stared, waiting.

The opening grew, like a crescent moon at first, then a full, bright circle.

And then he appeared.

My first reaction was that someone had cloned a person and a deer together. The creature had a head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been, though the skin was a pale shade of blue. But below that he had fur, a mix of blue and tan, covering a four-legged body that really did look like it belonged to a deer, or maybe a small horse.

He ducked his head out the doorway and I could see that even the fairly normal-looking parts of him weren't all that normal. For a start, he had no mouth, just three vertical slits. And then there were his eyes. Two of them were where they should have been, although they were a glittery greenish-blue color that was kind of shocking. But the real shock was the _other_ eyes. He had what seemed like horns, only on the top of each horn was an eye. The horns could move, twisting to point the eyes front and back or up and down.

I thought the eyes were bad, until I saw the tail. It was like a scorpion's tail, thick and powerful-looking. On the end was a wickedly curved, very sharp-looking horn or stinger. It reminded me of the alien's spaceship. It had seemed kind of cute and harmless at first glance, too. Then you saw that tail of his and you thought, _whoa, this guy could do some damage if he wanted_.

"Hello," Tonya said. Her voice was gentle, like she was talking to a baby. She was grinning.

I realized I was smiling, too. And at the same moment, I realized that there were tears in my eyes. I can't really describe how it felt, except that it seemed like the alien was someone I'd known forever. Like an old friend I hadn't seen in a long, long time.

Hello, the alien said, in that silent way that you only heard inside your head.

"Hi," we all said back.

To my surprise, the alien staggered. He fell out of the ship to the ground. Tonya tried to grab him and hold him up, but the alien slipped from her grasp and fell back to the dirt.

"He's hurt!" Chris cried. He pointed at a burn that covered half the alien's right side, as if we couldn't see it for ourselves.

Yes. I am dying, the alien said.

"Can we help you? We can call an ambulance or something," Maria said.

"We can bandage that wound," Chris said, collecting himself. "Rich, give me your shirt. We can tear it up and make bandages." Chris' parents are both veterinarians and he's totally into animals. Not that this was an animal. Not exactly, anyway.

No. I will die. The wound is fatal.

"NO!" I cried. "You can't die. You're the first alien ever to come to Earth. You can't die!" I don't know why I was so upset. I just knew that way down deep inside, it hurt me to think of him dying.

I am not the first. There are many, many others.

"Other aliens? Like you?" Rich demanded. Tonya shook her head slightly, closing her eyes and frowning, as if Rich were a complete dork.

The alien shook his big head slowly, side to side. Not like me.

Then he cried out in pain, a silent sound that echoed horribly inside my mind. For a moment, I had actually FELT him dying.

Not like me, he repeated. They are different.

"Different? How?" I said.

I will remember his answer forever.

He said, They have come to destroy you.

It was strange, the way we all just knew he was telling the truth. No one said "no way" or "you're making it up." We all just knew. He was dying, and he was trying to warn us of something terrible.

They are called Yeerks. They are different from us. Different from you, as well.

"Are you telling us they're already here on Earth?" Rich demanded.

Many are here. Hundreds. Maybe more.

"Why hasn't anybody noticed them?" Maria said reasonably. "I think 

someone would have mentioned it at school."

You do not understand. Yeerks are different. They have no body, like yours or mine. They live in the bodies of other species. They are...

I guess he couldn't think of a word to explain Yeerks, so he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Suddenly a bright picture popped into my head. I saw a gray-green, slimy thing like a snail without its shell, only bigger, the size of a rat, maybe. It wasn't a pretty picture.

"I'm guessing that was a Yeerk," Maria said. "Either that or a very big wad of slimy chewing gum."

They are almost powerless without hosts. They-

Suddenly we felt that blast of pain, straight from the alien. I could also feel his sadness. He knew his time was almost up.

The Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host's thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise the host may be able to resist, at least a little.

"Are you saying they take over _human beings_?" Rich asked. "People? These things take over their bodies?"

"Look, this is serious stuff," I said. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is like something the government should know about."

We had hoped to stop them, the alien continued, as if he hadn't heard me. Swarms of their Bug fighters were waiting when our Dome ship came out of Z-Space. We knew of their mother ship and were ready for the Bug fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us - they had hidden a powerful Blade ship in a crater of your moon. We fought, but... we lost. They have tracked me here. They will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship.

"How can they do that?" Chris wondered.

The alien seemed to smile with his eyes. It was a grim smile, though. Their Dracon beams will leave nothing behind but a few molecules of this ship, and... this body, he said. I sent a message to my home world. We Andalites fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the universe. My people will send help, but it may take a year, even more, and by then the Yeerks will have control of this planet. After that, there is no hope. You must tell people. You MUST warn your people!

Another spasm of pain ripped through him, and we all knew he was nearly gone.

"No one is ever going to believe us," Maria said hopelessly. She looked at me and shook her head. "No way."

She was right. If these Yeerks were to wipe out the Andalite's ship, how on Earth would we ever convince people? They'd think we were either nuts or on drugs.

"I don't care if he _thinks_ he's going to die, we have to try and help him," Rich said, taking charge. "We can get him to a hospital. Or maybe Chris' parents..."

There is no time. No time, the Andalite said. Then his eyes brightened. Perhaps...

"What?"

Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.

We all looked at each other. Who was going to be the one to go inside the ship? Somehow we all seemed to agree it would be me. Actually, I didn't agree, but everyone else did.

"Go ahead," Tonya said. "I want to stay with him." She knelt beside the Andalite and placed a comforting hand on the alien's narrow shoulder.

I looked at the doorway into the spacecraft. I glanced at Chris, who moved forward, removed his shirt - he still had an undershirt on -, knelt down, and began trying to staunch the flow of blood from the Andalite's side. He spared me a glance. "Go ahead," he said, sending me a quick smile. "You're not scared."

He was wrong; I was plenty scared. But the way he smiled at me, I wasn't about to weasel out.

I walked over to the door of the ship and looked inside. It was surprisingly simple. It looked cozy, almost. Everything was a creamy color with rounded edges and shapes that tended to be oval. That was one of the things that helped me to spot the box so easily. It was dull blue and square with rounded edges, maybe five inches on each side.

I stepped up into the ship. There was no chair, just a sort of open space where I guess the Andalite stood on his four hooves while he worked the few controls. There weren't a lot of buttons or anything. I wondered if the Andalite controlled the ship with his thoughts.

I quickly reached for the box and started to head back outside. The thing seemed kind of heavy for being so small. Then something caught my eye - a small, three-dimensional picture - six Andalites, standing all together, looking like a strange gathering of deer with solemn faces. Two of them looked very small - kids. I realized that this was a picture of the 

Andalite's family.

It filled me with sadness to think that here he was, dying, a million miles from his family. Dying because he had tried to protect the people of Earth. I felt anger flare up at the Yeerks, or Controllers, or whatever they were, for causing this.

I picked up the base that showed the picture in my empty hand, and went back to the circle of my friends.

"Here's the box," I told the Andalite.

Thank you.

"I, um.... is this your family?" I held out the picture.

He looked at it sadly, then silently reached up, brushing his fingertips against the base. The picture vanished.

"I'm real sorry," I said. What else _could_ I say? Absently, I put the base in my pocket, not really thinking about what I was doing.

There is something I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.

"What?" Rich demanded.

I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.

We all looked at each other. All except Tonya, who never took her gaze off the alien.

If you wish, I can give you powers that no other human being has ever had.

"Powers?" What was THAT supposed to mean?

It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have, the Andalite explained. A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe - the power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.

"Morph? Morph how?" Rich asked, his eyes narrowed.

To change your bodies, the Andalite said. To become any other species. Any animal.

Maria laughed derisively. "Become animals?" Maria isn't the most accepting person in the world, no matter HOW many comics she reads.

You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern, and you will be able to BECOME that creature. It requires concentration and determination, but, if you are strong, you can do it. There are... limitations. Problems. Dangers, even. But there is no time to explain it all... no time. You will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?

"He's kidding, right?" Maria asked me.

"No," Tonya said softly. "He's not kidding."

"This is nuts," Maria said. "This whole thing is nuts. Yeerks and spaceships and slugs taking over people's brains and Andalites and the power to change into animals? Give me a break."

"Yeah, it is beyond weird," I agreed.

"We're off the map of weirdness by this point," Rich said. "But unless we're all just dreaming, I think we'd better deal with this."

"He's dying," Tonya reminded us in a flat voice.

"I'LL do it," Chris said. That surprised me. Chris isn't usually so quick to decide - he likes to "sleep on it", you know? But I guess, like Tonya, he FELT the truth of what the Andalite was saying.

"I think we should ALL decide together," I suggested. "One way or the other."

"What's that?" Rich asked. He was looking up toward the stars. Far, far overhead, two pinpoints of bright red light were shooting across the sky.

Yeerks. The Andalite said the word in our minds, and we could feel his hatred.

The twin red lights slowed. They turned in a circle and came back toward us.

There is no more time. You must decide!

"We have to do this," Tonya said. "How else can we fight these Controllers?"

"This is insane!" Maria said. "Insane."

"I'd like more time, but we don't have that choice," Rich said in his most decisive tone. "I'm for it."

"What do you say, Jack?" Chris asked me.

A strange feeling came over me. The others were looking at me expectantly, as if I was the one who had to decide for everyone. Since when did I decide for everybody?

I looked up at the Yeerks' ships. What had the Andalite called them? Bug fighters? They were circling closer, like dogs sniffing for a scent. I looked down at the Andalite and remembered the picture of his family (although I did not remember shoving the base in my pocket). Would they even know what had happened to him?

I looked at each of the people around me - my usually funny, occasionally annoying best friend Maria; Richard, my smart, handsome, confident, and often condescending cousin; Chris, who everyone knew liked animals more than he liked most people.

Finally, I looked at Tonya. It was weird, the feeling I had at that moment, staring at her serious, determined expression. A chill or something.

"We have to," Tonya said to me.

There was something odd about her voice. Something I couldn't argue with.

Slowly I nodded. "We have no choice. Let's do it."

Then each of you, press your hand against one of the sides of the square.

We did. Five hands, each pressed against one side. Then a sixth hand, different from ours, with too many fingers.

Do not be afraid, the Andalite said.

Something like a shock, only pleasurable, seemed to run through me. A tingle that almost made me laugh.

Then the Andalite told us to go, and warned us of a time limit on morphing. I repeated it, making sure I'd remember exactly how long it was - the last thing I wanted to do was get trapped in an animal's body! That time limit was DEFINITELY not something I wanted to forget!

Suddenly some new fear washed through the Andalite's mind. Linked as I was to him, I could feel it as a dread that crawled up my spine. He was staring up at the sky with his main eyes. Something else was up there with the Bug fighters.

Visser Three! He comes!

"What?" I was shaking with this new terror. "What's a Visser? Who's a Visser?"

Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks he alone has the power to morph. The same power you now have. Run!

"No, we'll stay with you," Rich said firmly. "Maybe we can help."

Again it was as if the alien was smiling at us with his eyes. No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here.

We all looked up, craning our necks. Sure enough, the two red lights were sinking toward us. And they had been joined by a third ship, far larger, black as a shadow within a shadow.

"But how are we supposed to fight these... these Controllers?" Rich demanded.

You must find a way. Now RUN!

I jerked from the force of his command. "He's right. Run!" I yelled.

We ran. All but Tonya, who knelt beside the Andalite and took his hand. The Andalite pressed his other hand against Tonya's head. Tonya rocked back, like she'd been shocked. Then she, too, was up and running, stumbling over the loose junk and potholes of the construction site.

A beam of bright red light snapped on. It was a spotlight from one of the Bug fighters. The beam lit up the fallen Andalite and his ship. A spotlight from the second Bug fighter joined the first, and the Andalite shone brilliant as a star.

I hit the dirt hard. I saw my leg lit up within the circle of that spotlight. I yanked it to me and crawled fast, scraping my elbows and knees over the sharp stones.

The five of us crouched behind a low, crumbling wall, afraid to move, afraid to look, but just as afraid to look away.

Slowly the Bug fighters descended. It was easy to see where they'd gotten their nickname. They were slightly larger than the Andalite fighter and shaped like legless cockroaches. There were small windows like eyes on the forward-thrust head of the bug. And on either side of the head were two very long, very sharp, serrated spears.

The Yeerk Bug fighters touched down, one on either side of the Andalite ship.

"Okay, you can wake me up now," Maria said in a rattled whisper. "I've had enough of this dream."

The larger ship began to descend. I don't know what it was about that ship, but as it got closer I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. I tried to suck in a deep lungful of air and couldn't. I tried to swallow and couldn't. I wanted to run, but my legs were jelly. I was shaking from a fear so deep it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was the same fear that the Andalite had shown when he realized Visser Three was coming.

The ship settled toward the ground. It looked like it was going to land directly on a big rusted earthmover parked there. But as the Visser's ship descended, the earthmover just sizzled and disappeared.

Visser Three's ship was built like some ancient weapon. It reminded me of one of those battle-axes the old-time knights used when they were hacking off the heads of their foes. There was the main part, like the handle of the ax, with a big, triangular point on the front. That part had to be the bridge. At the rear were two huge, scimitar wings. It was eight or ten times 

the size of the Bug fighters.

The Blade ship landed. A door opened.

I started to scream. Chris clamped his hand over my mouth.

They leaped from the ship, whirling and thrusting and slicing the air - creatures that looked like walking weapons. They stood on two bent-back legs and had two very long arms. On each arm there were curved horn-blades growing out of the wrist and elbow. There were other blades at their bent-back knees, and two more blades at the end of their tails. They had feet like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

But it was the head that got your attention - a neck like a snake, a mouth that was almost a falcon's beak, and, from the forehead, three daggerlike horns raked forward.

Hork-Bajir-Controllers.

I jumped, hearing the Andalite's words in my mind again. They were fainter than before, strained, like someone yelling from far away.

"Did you guys...?" I asked.

Rich nodded. "Yeah."

The Hork-Bajir are a good people, despite their fearsome looks, the Andalite said. But they have been enslaved by the Yeerks. Each of them now carries a Yeerk in his head. They are to be pitied.

"Pity. Right," Rich said grimly. "They're walking killing machines. Look at them!"

But our attention was drawn away by a new form that crept and slithered and shimmied out of the Blade ship.

Taxxon-Controllers, the Andalite said. I knew he was trying to tell us all he could, even to the end. Trying to prepare us for what we were up against.

The Taxxons are to be pitied as well. But the Taxxons... His voice became sad, as if he didn't like what he had to say. They are evil.

"Yeah," Maria said. "I think I would have guessed the 'evil' part."

They were like massive centipedes, twice as long as a grown man. So big around that if you tried to hug one, your arms wouldn't make it even halfway. Not that anyone would ever WANT to.

They had dozens of legs that supported the lower two-thirds of their bodies. The top third was held upright, and there the rows of legs became smaller, with little lobster-claw hands.

Around the top of their disgusting, tubular bodies were four eyes, each like a wiggling globule of red Jell-O. And at the very end, pointing straight up in the air, was a round mouth, ringed by hundreds of tiny teeth.

Hork-Bajir and Taxxons poured from the Blade ship, spreading out around the area like well-trained Marines. They were holding small, pistol-sized things that were definitely weapons. They formed a ring around the Andalite and his ship.

Suddenly, one of the Hork-Bajir came straight toward us. He took one big, bounding step and he was practically on top of us.

I hugged the dirt like it was my last hope. I wished I could dig a hole. I saw a flash of Maria's face. Her eyes were huge. Her lips were drawn back in what could have been a grin, except that I knew it was an expression of pure terror.

The Hork-Bajir pointed his gun, or whatever it was, around at the darkness. His snake head swerved left and right, trying to penetrate the gloom.

Silence! the Andalite warned us. Hork-Bajir do not see well in darkness, but their hearing is very good.

The Hork-Bajir moved closer still. He was six feet away now, with just the low wall between us. He had to have heard my heart pounding. Maybe he didn't know what the sound was. Maybe he didn't recognize the sounds of five terrified kids whose knees were quivering and teeth were chattering. Kids who were breathing in short, sudden gasps.

I was sure I was going to die, right then. I could see in my mind the way those vicious wrist- and elbow-blades were going to slice my head from my body.

If you've never been really afraid, let me tell you - it does things to you. It takes over your mind and your body. You want to scream. You want to run. You want to wet your pants. You want to throw yourself down on the ground and cry and beg PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

And if you think you're brave, well, wait till you're cowering a few feet away from a monster who can turn you into coleslaw in about three seconds flat.

But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. Courage, my friends.

And this... this warm... this... I don't have any words to explain it. It was just this warmth that spread all through me. It was like when you're a little kid and you've had a terrible nightmare and you've woken up screaming. You know how you used to feel better when your mom or dad would turn on the light and come in and sit beside you in bed?

That's what it was like.

I mean, I was still terrified. The Hork-Bajir was still there, so real and so deadly. I could hear him breathing. I could smell him. But at the same time, I could feel the panic coming under control. I could feel the strength flowing from the doomed Andalite. He was letting us borrow some of his courage, even though he must have been afraid himself.

The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship.

Shaking and chattering, I rose high enough to look over the low wall. Every Hork-Bajir and Taxxon was turned toward the ship now.

"They're all standing at attention," I whispered.

"How can you tell?" Maria hissed. "Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking Salad Shooter from Hell is standing at attention?"

Then HE appeared.

Visser Three, the Andalite said.

Visser Three was an Andalite.

Or at least he was an Andalite-Controller.

"What the..." Rich said. "Isn't that an Andalite?"

Only twice has a Yeerk been able to take an Andalite body, the Andalite said. I killed one of them. There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three.

Visser Three walked confidently toward the wounded Andalite. The Visser seemed so much like the Andalite it was hard to tell them apart at first. He had the same mouthless face; the same extra stalk-eyes that turned here and there, checking out everything in all directions; the same powerful yet sleek four-legged body; and the same wicked tail.

But if the Visser LOOKED like any normal Andalite, he FELT different. It was like he was wearing a mask, only you just knew that under the fake sweetness of the mask there was something twisted and foul.

Well, well, Visser Three said.

I almost had a heart attack when I realized I was _hearing_ the Visser's thoughts.

"Can he hear our thoughts?" Chris whispered.

"If he can we're so dead I don't even want to think about it," Rich told him.

What have we here? A meddling Andalite? Visser Three looked more closely at the Andalite's ship. Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Arbron-Pomar-Seraith, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?

The Andalite didn't answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight.

The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world.

There will be others, the Andalite prince said.

The Visser took a step closer to the Andalite. Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser _One_.

What do you want with these Humans? the Andalite asked. You have your Taxxons, allied and otherwise. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves, from other worlds. Why these people?

Because there are so many, and they are so weak, Visser Three sneered. Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! _Billions_ of us. We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost.

Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite. I could feel the Andalite's fear, but rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wounds and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the face.

But Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. I promise you this, Prince Arbron - I will find your inside informer on this world and make him my personal servant. Then, when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of the rest of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream.

The Andalite struck!

His tail whipped up and over, so fast you couldn't really see it. The Visser twisted his head aside. The Andalite's tail blade missed the Visser's head by a bare half-inch. But it sliced into his shoulder. Blood - or something like blood - sprayed from the wound.

"Yes!" I hissed.

Aaaaarrrrgh! I could hear the Visser's howl of pain in my head.

At the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered.

Even crouching behind the wall, I could feel a wave of blistering heat. The Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared.

Fire! Visser Three yelled. Burn his ship!

The night exploded in blinding light. Red beams lanced from the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter. The Andalite ship glowed, and, with a strange slowness, disintegrated.

Then, in the flash and glow of Dracon beams I saw... or _thought_ I saw... humans. A small group of them, maybe three or four, back in the shadows behind the Visser.

"There are people over there," I told Maria.

"What? Are they prisoners?"

Take the Andalite, Visser Three ordered his soldiers. Hold him for me.

Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him.

That was to be Visser Three's personal privilege.

Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captured Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to _morph_. He morphed into something huge, monstrous... something I shall forever see in my nightmares, along with all the other horrible things I have seen since.

Over and over, Chris kept whispering, "This isn't real. This isn't real..."

When the Visser reached to pick up the Andalite by the neck, Tonya started crying. "No, no, no," I heard her whispering. "No, no, no, no."

"Don't look," Rich said to her. He put his arm around Tonya's shoulders and held her close. Then he reached over and took Maria's hand, not even flinching when she started squeezing it mercilessly. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death, with tears running down his face, Rich had strength to spare.

Visser Three, ignoring the repeated, pointless strikes from the Andalite's tail, proceeded to lift him up and hold him over his gaping wide mouth.

I don't know what came over me right then. I had been so afraid. So terrified. But it was like something just snapped in my head. I couldn't just hide and watch. I couldn't.

"You filthy-" I jumped to my feet. I snatched up a piece of rusted iron pipe from the ground and started to climb over that wall.

I guess I just went crazy or something. It had to be craziness, because 

there was no way that I, alone, armed with a piece of pipe, was going to accomplish anything.

No!

The Andalite's silent cry made me hesitate. I felt Maria's hands grabbing at my shirt, pulling me back. Tonya and Rich held me down while Maria put her hand over my mouth as I tried to scream, or curse, or... I don't know _what_ I was trying to do.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Maria hissed. "You're just going to get us all killed!"

"Let her go." Chris grabbed my arm as they released me, then gripped the other. "Jack, don't." He let go of one of my arms to caress my cheek. "He doesn't want you to die for _him_. Don't you see? He's dying for _us_."

I swallowed, then nodded. I turned around, to peer over the wall again, back in control, but I gripped Chris' hand as tightly as he gripped mine. The Andalite prince was helpless in the grasp of Visser Three. I saw him held high in the air. I saw Visser Three open his monstrous, gaping jaws. I saw as the Andalite fell into that open mouth, as the mouth closed, and started ripping the Andalite to shreds.

At the very end, the Andalite Prince Abron-Pomar-Seraith cried out. His cry of despair was in our heads. His cry will always be in our heads.

Along with everything else since that first time... since I first grew up.

_That was months ago. Months. Since then, Tonya got stuck in morph as a bird of prey; she still visits her dad, who knew what was going on, but mostly she lives out in the woods. Turns out, he's the informer Visser Three talked about. Tonya knew about this all along - that's why she was so serious about getting involved. Soon after, we rescued an Andalite from the bottom of the ocean - an Andalite who's Tonya's uncle, yet no older than she is. Rich's sanity has been whittled away, and Chris almost quit. Maria has given up her comic books entirely to devote herself to reality way too much; now she jumps at shadows, and suspects everyone. Everyone. I barely recognize her now; she's no longer the easy-going person who was my friend since we were in diapers._

But then, neither am I.

I never will be again.

Turns out, though, I'm not alone.... 

CHAPTER 1

Jake

I won't bore you with what you've heard fifty thousand times. My first name is Jake, I have brown hair and eyes, I am kind of tall, I look really serious, and I cannot tell you anything more about myself, like where I live and how old I am. You know about the Yeerks and Andalites and Animorphs already, I'm sure, so I really don't have to explain. Again.

I won't get into it, because I REALLY don't have the time right now.

It's the day before Finals Week.

I sat at my desk. I sat with my elbows on the desk, my attention focused on my history textbook. The radio was off. The door was closed. My dog, Homer, was on the other side of the door. There were absolutely, positively, NO physical distractions.

I looked dead serious about studying.

Needless to say, I wasn't. I was half asleep. I stared blankly at the textbook, whose words had blurred together a long time ago; I hadn't read a single sentence, much less turned a page, in at least twenty minutes. I was bored out of my mind, and enjoying every endless second of it.

I was doing something normal. I wasn't leading my friends and myself into the jaws of death; I wasn't fighting for my life; I wasn't worried that I was acting suspiciously. I sighed happily; it felt good to get down to 

my dull, normal life, every once in a while.

Distantly, through the walls and my anti-studying stupor, I heard the lock turn in the front door, and the door squeak quietly as it opened, then shut again. I wasn't too surprised: Tom was out at a Sharing meeting, and Mom and Dad had gone out to dinner with another pair of parents to do what parents do when they can get a night off from parenting, and neither Tom nor my parents had known when they were coming back. Right then, I was supposed to be minding the house, and studying.

_Supposed_ to be studying, anyway.

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway; they sounded odd. I sat up straighter, listening. They didn't make a THUMP sound, or a CLUNK sound, like they were wearing shoes. It was more of a barefoot, BUNK sound. It was too light to be Dad, or Tom. Mom, then. But why was she barefoot? And where was Dad?

I heard my door open behind me. I started to turn in my chair-

"WHAT THE HELL?!!"

I jumped out of my chair, staring at the girl standing in my doorway.

She was about my height, and looked oddly familiar, although I knew with absolute certainty that I had never seen her before in my life. She had brown hair like mine, only longer and wavier; it hung loosely down to her shoulder blades. Her brown eyes were angry, startled, and confused, all at once. She wore a dark green leotard, and nothing else.

She was barefoot.

Something about that, and her familiarity, made me feel ill.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What's going on here?"

"What do you mean?" I replied, just as confused as she was. I could've _sworn_ the front door was locked. I could've also sworn that I heard someone _un_lock it. But, if so... how had she gotten a key to the house? "What's going on where? Who are YOU?"

She put her hands on her hips. "This is MY room," she said in a very no-nonsense voice. She believed in what she said, that much was obvious; but what she was saying... I forced myself not to laugh. "I've lived in this room since I was four." My urge to laugh died quickly. "What have you DONE to it?!"

"DONE to it?" I echoed. "I didn't DO anything! I don't know who you are, but I'VE had this room since I was four. You've got the wrong house."

"My name is Jacqueline ______," she said, glaring at me. "And this is _my_ room."

I stared at her. Her glare eased back into confusion at my stare. Finally, I managed to gasp out, "What did you say your name was?"

"Jacqueline," she replied. "What's that got to do with it?"

"No," I said. "Your _other_ name."

She repeated it.

I continued to stare. Stare at a face that was much too familiar to deny. The skin color was right. The hair color was right. Even the eyes were right. Her nose was right, too. Her face was narrower, in a feminine way, like Rachel's is narrower than mine. She stood right in front of me: I stood slightly taller, but that was because I was wearing my sneakers and she, as I said, was barefoot. If I kicked off my shoes and socks, I was positive we'd be the same exact height.

"My name is Jake," I said. I told her my last name.

It was the exact same one as hers.

She snorted, giving me a look that suggested I thought she was a fool. "That's nice," she said, as if I were a little kid. "Now, if you would, quit pulling my chain before I call the cops. What have you done to my room?"

My hand went up to my nose. I pushed against the side of my nose, up where the bone is, with a couple fingers; I do that sometimes when I get stressed. And stress was definitely something I was feeling right then, because the feeling I had about this girl claiming my room as her own - about her in GENERAL - was getting stronger and stronger, and I really, _REALLY_, didn't want it to. "Have you ever met an Andalite?" I asked quickly, before I could change my mind.

Her expression quickly shifted into neutral. "A what?" she asked, perfectly straight-faced.

_Too_ straight-faced. Like she was hiding something.

"You're an Animorph," I said. Man, did I hope I was right.

She gave me an odd look, no longer as off-guard as she had been. "You're talking crazy talk," she said, looking at me as if I was growing a second head. "I'm calling the police."

"Look around the rest of the house," I suggested. "Go to Tom's room."

"Who?"

"Tom. My brother."

She shook her head. "You're crazy."

"Just go across the hall. It's the door on your left."

"I'll have you know that's my sister's room," she said with a smirk.

"Your sister?"

"Tara."

"Tara...Tom," I said, staring her straight in the eye. "Jacqueline... Jake."

She looked at me, and suddenly her eyes widened.

She bolted out the door.

I heard the door to Tom's room open.

I heard Jacqueline scream.

She came back in a hurry, closing the door behind her and leaning on it.

"Okay," she said breathlessly. "It's your house." She looked up at me, her expression serious. "And yes, I'm an Animorph."

"Who came up with that name?"

She sighed. "I don't know who told you it, but Maria did. It just popped into her head one day."

Maria?

_Marco?_

I chuckled. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Here, Marco did."

"Marco." She smiled, just a little, with only one side of her face. "I see the humor." Then the half-smile disappeared. "It's not enough though. What's going on here?"

I shook my head. "I don't know," I said honestly.

"If this were a Sario Rip, we should've canceled each other out, right?"

"I don't know. Ax-"

"-wasn't paying attention in school that day," she said exactly at the same time I did. The half-smile returned. "Yes, that's familiar, too," she said.

I frowned a little. "Ax... what's his name?"

"_Aristh_ Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - Axel for short - brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, father of Ton- of one of the Animorphs," she finished, her tone rueful.

I sighed, and rubbed the bridge of my nose again. "Listen. This is too weird."

"You're telling _me_?" She gave me another disbelieving look, like the one I give Marco when he says something irrelevant but somewhat humorous. "At least your room _looks_ like _your_ room."

I shook my head. "We're going to be here all day if we keep testing each other."

"My thoughts exactly. We should get everyone together, try to figure this out. Or, at least, talk to Axel or- well, 'Ax', anyway."

"You call him Axel?"

She shrugged a little. "How is that stranger than you calling him 'Ax'?"

I smiled grimly. "Good point."

CHAPTER 2

Jake

I'm sorry, but I cannot help here. I-  
"We know, Ax, we know," I said.

"You weren't paying attention," Jacqueline said. She now wore a pair of my jeans and one of my button-down shirts, unbuttoned, over her leotard, and a pair of my socks and my best pair of spare sneakers on her feet. They all fit her perfectly. She reached up toward her face, then put her hand down again. Yet another thing in common: she'd gone to rub the bridge of her nose, just as I do. She'd realized it and stopped herself. She leaned against the door of the stall behind her. "Great."

Marco shook his head. "I can't believe this." He looked extremely uncomfortable. And no wonder - Jacqueline looked unnaturally like me. At the same time, she was kind of pretty. Not as pretty as Rachel, maybe, pretty in a more simple, understated way. "Now we got Jake's long lost twin, who's an Animorph too? I don't get this."

Jacqueline shook her head. "I'm not related to Jake. We talked on the way here. Our last names are the same - that could have been coincidence. But beyond that, there's no doubt. Our parents have the same names; we both met Andalites in deserted construction sites; we both fight different Visser Three's. Our best friends' names both begin with m-a-r, and _they_ have the same last name too." Marco suddenly looked even more uncomfortable. "We both have barely-acquaintances-turned-friends who we saved from serious swirlies who became trapped as birds whose fathers were Andalites at some point in their lives, and share the Andalite name 'Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul'. We both know an _Aristh_ Aximili- Esgarrouth-Isthill, although the one I knew is darker than you," she said, gesturing in Ax's direction, "and a little bigger."

"So, who are the Animorphs, according to you?" Rachel asked. She crossed her arms.

"Rachel, was it?" Jacqueline sighed. "Well, there's me. Then there's Rich - Richard, my cousin. At least, he WAS one of us. We- we lost him."

"What?" Rachel demanded, standing taller. I hadn't told Jacqueline that Rachel and I were related. Score another point for Jacqueline's authenticity factor.

"He looked sort of like you," Jacqueline said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "He took too many risks. Kept insisting on going off on his own. Wouldn't go with the plan whenever we were lucky enough to have one. I don't know how many times he had us vote on something only HE didn't agree with. He simply didn't fit in the program. We tried, honest we did. But Rich wouldn't try. He had to do it HIS way. He stole the Escafil device from us, and that was the last we saw of him. If it weren't for Diane, we'd be a person shorter."

"Diane?" Cassie echoed. She looked confused.

Jacqueline rested her elbows on the top of the stall door and leaned back, putting her weight on it, then crossed her ankles in front of her. "Diane found Arbron's morphing cube in the construction site. She brought it to school. Maria saw her with it. Diane advertised it on the Internet; Visser Three tried to kill her. We managed to escape. We made Diane one of us; she lives with Axel, now. But then, Rich took the Escafil Device, and disappeared. We haven't seen him since." She shuddered, then clenched her fist. "Because of him, we killed a Yeerk who could have been an ally. Things have been pretty difficult since Rich went off and turned our world upside down."

David, Tobias murmured to the rest of us, as if we couldn't figure it out. David - 'Diane' - worked out.

And Rachel is a traitor? Ax sounded upset about that. Rachel was quite visibly upset about that.

Jacqueline sighed again. "Then there's Tonya. Or 'Toniya', I suppose. There's an 'i' in her name nobody really pays attention to. She knew what was going on all along. Her dad was an Andalite who chose to become a human _nothlit_. An Andalite named Elfangor."

Jacqueline looked up to the rafters. There, in his red-tailed hawk body, Tobias stared back. "I'm sorry to hear about Elfangor in this timeline, Tobias," she said. "In mine, it was a friend of his - an Andalite named Arbron - who was in his place."

I guess so, Tobias answered. He started to preen his left wing. He often uses preening as a way to pretend something doesn't matter to him.

Jacqueline let it slide, just like the rest of us do. "There's Diane - she's a bit immature sometimes, but she's gotten better with time. It was hard getting her to adjust. She kept trying to go home again. Man, did she give us grief sometimes...." Jacqueline smiled a little. "But I'd put my life in her hands any day, now. We just had to be patient. Be lenient but firm. It took awhile, but she's gotten the hang of it.

"Of course, there's Maria and Chris. My god-sends. If it weren't for them I'd have had to give up a long, LONG time ago. They've changed a lot since the beginning of this... but I suppose we all have." She closed her eyes; I knew she had to be thinking about "Rich". It's what I would have thought about. About what I might have done to keep him with us. To make everything work out. To keep everyone together.

The pressures of leadership.

Rachel shook her head. I knew she had now realized what I had, in my room. "There are just too many parallels for this to be a coincidence," she said. In a roundabout way, she was admitting that I was right - Jacqueline knew too much.

"From now on, Rachel and Ax are to stay clear of each other," Marco quipped. "At least, until Rachel's vocabulary returns to normal."

"I agree with Rachel," Jacqueline said, nodding even as she ignored Marco. "Somehow, Jake and I are the same person... although there are some... obvious... differences." She smiled a little at her own joke, but the smile didn't last long - it faded quickly, leaving no trace.

"Where are you going to stay, Jacqueline?" Cassie asked. "It's not like you can sleep in Jake's room."

Jacqueline and I turned equally red at that idea. "Actually, I prefer just 'Jack', thanks. 'Jackie' is fine, too, but I like being called 'Jack'." She looked over her shoulder, toward the hayloft. "Where am I going to stay, should I not suddenly blip out of this existence to nullify the paradox I'm making? If it doesn't bother you, I guess I could stay in your hayloft, Cassie. If Diane can live in it for two straight weeks - at least, in Chris' hayloft, anyway - then I shouldn't have too much of a problem." We - everyone but Jacquel- JACK, I mean - traded glances at that. Jack didn't miss it. "What?" Then she looked around, her expression disturbed. She pointed at me. "Me...." Then her finger moved to Rachel. "Rich. Maria." She pointed at Marco, then Ax. "Axel." Next she pointed at Cassie, then up toward Tobias. "Chris and Toniya." She frowned.

'Diane's' counterpart didn't work out, Tobias informed her.

Jack's frown deepened. "I won't ask, then," she said. She sighed, then boosted herself onto the stall door she was leaning on. "So," she said, trying to sound cheerful, "what've I missed?"

CHAPTER 3

Jack

The six of them - Jake (who, as time went on, was making me more and more open to getting my hair cut short, if it looked as nice on me as it did on him, but otherwise left me indescribably more and more uncomfortable), Rachel (who wouldn't stop glaring at me), Cassie (who seemed nice enough), Marco (who seemed extremely uncomfortable; whether it was me or the idea of Maria I couldn't tell), Tobias (who seemed awfully cold, not like Toniya at all), and Ax (who didn't seem any more different than he looked) - filled me in on what had happened to them so far. It was eerie listening to it - probably something like if an ancient Roman listened to someone from today re-tell one of their myths. I sometimes interrupted to tell my side of the story, but generally I just let them talk. I was waiting calmly for a state of panic to take over me, but it had yet to show itself. Of course, I've had a bullet go through my head and don't remember it, though I'm still alive; I've eaten dinosaur (although I ate carnotaurus, not tyrannosaurus); I can turn into things ranging in size from a flea to a sperm whale; I've helped to beat Crayak's greatest creation; I've had a Yeerk in my head and outlived him while my friends outwitted him.... Maybe the shock wouldn't come, but, if it did, I wanted to be prepared.

Gradually the stories ended, and the others trickled away. Soon it was just Axel - _Ax_ -, Cassie, and me. "Ax?"

He looked at me, surprised. Yes?

I was used to his surprise. In fact, I have a great deal of experience in surprising Andalites. I smiled slightly at a memory of the planet Leera, and of the look on the Andalite general's face when Axel told him that I, a human female, was his prince. "Do you think this could be some form of Sario Rip? I know you didn't pay much attention, but... just go with your gut."

He gave me an odd look. My gut?

I forced myself not to sigh. It was no one's fault if my counterpart hadn't used that colloquium before. "Go with your feelings. Tell me what you _think_, not what you _know_."

He took a moment to think about it. I see no reason why the concept of a Sario Rip cannot be applied to this problem, he said finally. But... under Sario's theory of multi-dimensional first-stage relativity, duplicates should not be able to meet themselves. It causes paradox. It is like trying to divide a real number by zero.

I frowned; I knew as well as anybody in my grade that trying that equation on a calculator just made the calculator say "Error". I'd forgotten why that was true, but I understood the concept. "Ax, with Sario Rips - what you know of them - is there _always_ time displacement?"

Yes. Sario Rips deal with space-time. One cannot be related to without affecting the other.

"'Space-time'..." I murmured. Cassie was simply watching us, not interrupting. I felt like the answer was just out of my reach.

Two people - the SAME person, but of opposite sexes, somehow - in one place at one time....

"What does Sario's theories state about parallel dimensions?"

There are no such thing.

I looked up at him, startled by that statement. "What?"

He looked at me in a mostly neutral, but slightly condescending, way. Andalites do not believe in 'parallel dimensions'.

"Why?" Cassie asked.

"I've... I've always believed that fate was like a tree," I said slowly. I put my hands together, palms pressed against each other, as if I was praying. "I've always believed that everything began in the same place, the same timeline. Then, somewhere along the line, something happened that needed a choice - something could happen, or it couldn't happen. Instead, though, BOTH did. When BOTH happened, it split the timeline in half." I pulled my hands apart. "That caused a chain reaction. Happen or not happen." I separated my fingers, as if I was doing a pair of Vulcan "live long and prosper" signs. "Do or don't." I separated all my fingers, spreading them out. "Sure, somewhere the lines would intersect. I mean, 3 + 2 + 5 still equals 1 + 9 and 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 and 5 + 4 + 1. That's four different ways of getting ten. Different combinations of different amounts of numbers, but the same result."

"So..." Cassie pressed her hand to her chin in a thoughtful look that suddenly made me feel homesick. It was something Chris did so often... I MISSED him, and I hadn't been here a single day yet! "So in spite of major differences, the outcome is the same."

It is... a complicated belief, Ax said.

"From an Andalite, that's a compliment," I said, smiling a little.

It is also quite logical, Ax continued, trying to hide his surprise. However, only to a point. What would be the one event that caused the branching?

"I'm not old enough to know that," I replied. Cassie giggled.

Ax looked at me oddly. Ah, a joke, he said in a deadpan voice.

Obviously, Axel had a better sense of humor than Ax.

"Anyway, dealing with my theory... do you think it's possible that... I don't know... parallel lines could somehow crash together? That somehow 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 would suddenly equal 1 + 2 + 4 + 5?"

It does not seem plausible.

"Ugh, I'm getting a headache." Without Jake there to make it uncomfortable, I rubbed the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"So, all the humans you know are switched, but Elfangor and Ax are the same?" Cassie said, casually shifting the conversation. "How could that be?"

"In Star Trek, parallel universes are usually different by something small that has a vast effect," I said, glad for the change. "Something small, obvious - and overlooked."

When Visser Four sought to change the present by changing human history with the Time Matrix, this sort of change did not occur, Ax said. Perhaps someone else has the Time Matrix and made a different sort of change?

"With what, primordial soup?" I shook my head. "No way the Big Guys would allow anything else to get their hands on that - and I trust that they don't trust each other enough with it, so it's pretty much not in commission anymore."

Cassie smiled. "'Big Guys'?"

I chuckled. "Well, call it superstitious, but where I'm from, we have this feeling that mentioning their names alerts them somehow. We avoid dealing with them as much as they - hopefully - avoid using us. You know, I've always wondered." They looked at me. "Why was Visser Four an idiot and jump around in time like he did? He should have started at the latest change and gone backward. That way, he wouldn't have run into the problem of discovering what he was going to change had already been avoided." I shrugged. "I guess it's better the way he did it, though. Even though I _was_ dead through most of it."

"Don't tell Jake," Cassie said, grinning, "but I think you have more common sense."

"Don't be fooled. I'm just as foolish as he is, if not more so."

Cassie shook her head seriously. "That is simply not possible."

Is he really that bad? I asked her privately, grinning.

Cassie jumped. She turned her head slightly so she could stare straight at me. "Did you just ask me something?" she demanded.

My laugh was forced. She looked so startled I was uneasy. "I rhetorically asked, in a way that Ax would not be offended by me demeaning his prince, if Jake was as bad as you make him out to be."

Ax looked confused. I did not hear you.

"I just said that."

"You can use thought-speak out of morph?" Cassie asked.

What sort of question was that? "Can't you?"

Cassie shook her head. Humans are not capable of that, Ax said.

"Of course not!" I frowned. "_We_ weren't able to, either, until we got the morphing powers."

Ax shook his head. The Escafil Device would not give thought- speak capabilities to a non-thought-speaking race that was not in morph.

"It does for me and my group. I've known that since the morning after we met Arbron. Tonni came to my room and morphed Dude - her cat. It seriously freaked me out." I chuckled. "As a test, I asked if she could hear me - well, I didn't ask_ out loud_ - I asked within my head. And she told me she could. We're able to use thought-speak even without being morphed. You're not?"

"No." Cassie shook her head again. "Never have."

Another difference, Ax pointed out.

"There's bound to be tons," I said. "Little things that add up." I 

frowned. "I'm already hating this," I muttered.

CHAPTER 4

Jake

Marco was the first one to break the silence as we headed home.

"Man, this is creeping me out."

I was already wound tight. That simple statement made me snap. "Creeping YOU out?!"

Marco cringed defensively. "Hey, watch the jugulars! Sheesh! _Relax_, Jake."

"Relax." I shook my head. "I have a female clone sleeping in Cassie's barn, and you want me to relax. If it was Maria, what would _you_ be doing?"

"This isn't me," Marco said seriously. "Jake, you can't panic now. You're our rock. Our leader. Our main man. You're in control. You're cool."

"I have a clone who's pretty."

"That is also cool."

"I have a clone who you'd probably ask out if she weren't me in some alternate dimension."

He shook his head. "Man, you have a clone _you'd_ ask out if you didn't have Cassie, but that's beside the point!"

"Great way to make it 'beside the point'," I muttered, kicking a stone on the sidewalk.

"She really ought to cut her hair," Rachel said. "It'd look so much better in something like you have, Jake."

"Thank you, _Rachel_," I muttered even more darkly. The next stone I kicked shot across the street.

"Okay, from now on, Xena keeps her beauty tips to herself," Marco said, shooting Rachel a pointed glance. "Sorry, Jake. It's just so weird, that's all."

"And I should act like it isn't weird. It's okay for _you_, but not for me, the one with the cute clone."

"You're way too focused on that," Marco said, smirking at me.

"It's something you notice," I replied bluntly. Rachel snorted, giving me a skeptical look. "It's kind of unnerving to know that I'd make a good-looking girl. And I notice that neither of _you_ will even consider what _you'd_ do if you were faced with _your_ counterparts."

"We're allowed to panic," Marco replied. "I panic all the time. Rachel's allowed to be Rachel, which covers a wide range of reactions." Rachel shot him A Look. "But you, Jake - you're not allowed to let this get to you."

"Great."

I looked at them. Marco and Rachel.

How would Maria and Rich look?

I tried to imagine Marco as a girl. I got a mental picture of his mom, but three inches shorter. Rachel, as a boy? That was harder. Some odd mixture of a preppie and a jock. Something like a guy that might appear on _Saved from the Bell_ as one of the lead girl characters' boyfriends.

Me? I knew now. A tall, sturdy girl, with a generally cool expression, expressive, dark eyes, and long, brown hair with a soft wave. A bit like Winnie from _The Wonder Years_, but sturdier with darker eyes and hair, and more mature in a way that was felt more than seen - at least, physically. The weight of leadership isn't one that shows much physically, except in the eyes. Jack had that look.

Her eyes frightened me.

The rest of her, in subtle ways in some places, obvious in others I don't need to name, was different enough not to bug me too much. But her eyes... they were eyes I saw each time I looked at anything reflective. Looking into her eyes was the same as looking into my own.

The idea that someone could be so much like me....

.... after all I'd gone through ... the decisions, the losses, the pains both without and within ....

.... it was a bit much.

To use an understatement.

I shook my head. "It's just bugging me."

"Understandable. But-"

"-but I can't let it," I finished for Marco. "Yeah. We have bigger things to worry about."

"Saving the world," Rachel said, nodding.

"No." They looked at me, surprised. I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach. "Am I the _only_ one with a Final tomorrow?"

"I don't have one," Marco said.

Rachel grinned. "Me neither."

I groaned.

CHAPTER 5

Jack

"Just you survived," Chris said. He used the same tone as he might have if he'd said, "We're doomed."

The Andalite seemed to frown. Just me, he said. No prince. No warriors.

I would have groaned if it wouldn't have been extremely rude. Just what we needed - another clueless kid.

"We're young, too," Chris said. "Too young to fight, according to the laws of our people."

The Andalite looked extremely surprised. But still you fight!

"We feel like we don't have a choice," Chris explained. Then he shook his head slightly. "Look, we don't even know your name." He motioned toward me; I nodded in greeting even as he started motioning down the line. "This is Jacqueline, Richard, Maria. I'm Christopher - Chris, for short. There's one more. Her name is Toniya."

I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.

We all just kind of stared.

"Axel," Maria said. "Pleased to meet you."

The Andalite smiled a little, then looked at each of us. Who is your prince?

Slowly, Chris and Maria looked at me. Rich did too, but his scowl wasn't anything like the other two's serious expressions.

"Oh, give me a break," I laughed weakly. "I am not _anyone's_ prince."

The Andalite looked at me. He seemed confused. You... your prince is female?

Maria's face clouded over. "Now you listen-"

"Maria, can it," I cut her off. The last thing we needed was a fight. "To each their own, remember? It doesn't hurt anyone but the bigot to be a bigot."

The Andalite's confused expression quickly changed to surprise, then to embarrassment. Then, finally, he smiled again. To each their own, he echoed. He stepped forward, then bowed his head and lowered his tail. I blushed; I had the overwhelming feeling he was bowing to me, like someone waiting to be knighted. I will fight for you, Prince Jacqueline, until I can return to my cousins.

I chuckled weakly. "Fine," I said. "The first thing you can do is not call me 'prince'. You can call me Jack instead...."-

I woke up staring at a ceiling that wasn't my ceiling, with a pain shooting all through me that I didn't usually attribute to sleeping in my own bed.

I sat straight up.

Big mistake.

"_Big_ ouchie," I moaned, putting my hand to my back. I used my other hand to massage my neck. I looked around.

I was laying on scattered hay - what had probably started as a pile was now strewn all over the wooden floor I was laying on. There was no pillow in sight. My legs were cocooned in a blanket I didn't recognize.

On my right was a lot of wooden floor, most of it covered in hay.

On my left was a sheer drop to a concrete floor.

"Ahh!"

I twisted, then scooted backwards, away from the drop. Quickly I untangled my legs. I was in my morphing outfit - a green leotard that was a gift from Maria, but nothing else. I leaned over the edge carefully.

So _that's_ where my pillow went.

There it was, a deadly drop below me, in a pathway between several animal cages, right between a penned deer and two wild turkeys.

Chris' barn?

What was I doing in here?

Then it hit me.

Cassie. Rachel. Marco. Tobias. Ax.

Jake.

Jake.

_Jake_.

I groaned, covering my face in my hands. "No, no, no," I moaned. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

It was true.

All true.

True.

There, in a barn that was familiar and yet foreign, in the early light of dawn, when and where no one would see me, I burst into tears.

I'm a girl. According to general stereotypes, I'm allowed to do that.

But I'm also Jack, the leader of a group of Animorphs I might never see again. My friends - my family. The only people I could trust. People that counted on me to be strong, stable, unshakable. A mountain.

Inhuman.

As Jack, I'm not allowed to cry.

Not when anyone can see.

It seems like yesterday, although months have passed.

He glared at me, angry, afraid. "I can't take this!" he snarled at me. "Every time I get a plan, you nix it! The others follow you so blindly, they won't listen to me! What is it with you, Jack? Why are you so damned against me?"

"I'm not against you," I said, keeping my voice calm, almost toneless. "You're my cousin, Rich. We have to-"

"Oh, don't get into that!" he snapped at me. He swiped the air in front of me, as if he was going to hit me. I forced myself not to flinch. "You're always saying what we have to, and can't, do! Whatever happened to 'whatever it takes', huh, Jack? Whatever happened to my ruthless, determined cousin? What's happened to you, Jack?"

"To _me_?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about you? You thought _I_ was ruthless? How about you, Mr. Grizzly? Mr. Kill-or-be- killed? Mr. Ends-justify-the-means?"

"You used to be like that," he spat.

"No," I replied coldly. "I was never like that. I want to stay human, Rich. I don't know about you, but when it comes to that I won't be human anymore."

"Damn you," he spat. He pulled back his fist. I stared him in the eye, daring him to do it. Praying to God he didn't. Rich is a boxer, among all the other stuff he does; he knew where to put that fist so I would never get up again, and wouldn't have a chance to morph and save myself. "Just... just damn you. Damn you all to Hell. That's where you belong."

He shoved me, hard. I stumbled back, almost sighing in relief that I didn't have a broken nose, or worse.

But I couldn't do that.

Not after all this time.

I wasn't going to take this, not after all we'd been through.

Damn it, I was the leader. No matter how much I denied it, I was going to keep it.

"I'll see you there," I replied tonelessly.

His lip curled upward into a sneer, and then he turned and walked away.

I let him go.

I never saw him - or the Escafil Device - again.

Ever.

Now I was gone, too.

Gone to some weird alternate reality, where everyone but Axel was switched - where a boy was a girl and a girl was a boy. Where Axel had absolutely no sense of humor, but was otherwise only changed very slightly. Where Elfangor was dead.

What would the others be doing now? What would they do today, this week? This month, this year?

What would they do?

Maria wouldn't believe it at first. She'd believe I'd been captured. She vote for an all-out assault of the Yeerk pool, thinking we'd have nothing to lose, that it'd be better to go out fighting before they got taken, and go into a detailed plan of how they could do just that, and score the maximum damage.

Chris wouldn't agree. He'd realistically state that, if I had been taken, the Yeerks would already have captured the rest of them, and at the same time he'd be cursing himself for sounding so detached, when he was as worried, if not seven times as worried, as Maria.

Diane would counter that statement by insisting that I had to be _somewhere_, and they couldn't just sit around waiting for me to show up. Something was wrong. Diane had developed a knack for knowing when something is wrong.

Tonni would listen quietly. She'd agree with Chris, that I was probably not captured, but also agree with Diane that they should take action to find me. If I wasn't captured, it was best to keep it that way.

Al would also listen quietly. More than likely, he wouldn't say much. He'd just watch, maybe suggest some places to look. He wouldn't directly offer help unless someone asked. That's how he is. He's retired from fighting, now. He just wants to survive, like the rest of us.

At least, he claims to be retired. We all know that's a crock of bull, but we don't mention that fact. If any one of us is in direct danger, he's there. But, for something like this - when someone turns up missing without a trace - he leaves it to us. He trusts we know what to do.

We all love Al. Tonya loves him because he's her dad. The rest of us, meaning no disrespect to our own dads (or step-dads, as the case may be), wish he was ours.

Axel? He'd be upset. He'd blame himself for my disappearance. Al would reassure him, but that wouldn't change much. The two of them might be brothers, but they didn't meet until we retrieved Axel from the bottom of the ocean and introduced them to each other. Axel's extremely protective of me. In the perfect scenario, an _aristh_ has to be willing to sacrifice him- or her-self for his/her prince. Though it's not perfect in any way, it _is_ touching to know that Axel would gladly do that, not just for me, but for any one of us.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to see Cassie looking down at me. She'd climbed up the hayloft ladder. She smiled slightly. "Glad I came in here early," she said. "I wanted to make sure you were out of sight before my dad came in here." She handed me the pillow.

"Thanks," I murmured. I squeezed it as tightly as I could, then wiped my face free of tears. "I just... sunk into depression, I guess. The whole I'll-never-see-any-of-them thing." I wiped at my eyes, catching the tears that hadn't fallen yet. "But I'm okay."

"Liar."

"You keep that to yourself."

"I will... if you tell me what Chris is like."

"Chris?" I looked at her, surprised. She smiled wickedly. "Oh!" I grimaced, turning beet red. "I couldn't. No!"

"You're a couple, aren't you?"

I giggled. "Why is it that I was the last to realize that, and that 

everyone who couldn't _possibly_ have witnessed anything know it so quickly?" Cassie laughed. "I mean, even the Visser knows." She looked surprised. "Well, he knows there's a pair of Andalites out there that care a bit overmuch for each other," I amended.

"Wow."

"What about you and Jake?"

It was Cassie's turn to blush. "Well... we're, uh..."

"Not admitting a thing, even though everyone knows it." Her grimace told me I was right. "I know that's how it'd probably be if..."

She looked at me again. "If...?"

"Well, first there was the incident with the Iskoort. That really pushed us closer together." She nodded. "I just... you know?" She nodded again. "Just seeing him, after falling like that... I was so relieved to see him. But then he comes running toward me, and I just wanted to hug him, that's all. Really. I just wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't dead, that he was really real... and then... he just swept me up, and..." I smiled slightly at the memory, then blushed again. "... and it'll never be forgotten by millions of Howlers," I finished lamely. Then I smiled. "Or me."

"You said 'first'."

I smiled sheepishly. "The other major one was the whole Time Matrix thing. One moment I'm cowering with a ton of stinking, freezing men, praying that no one will realize I'm a girl under my blanket, staring at Martin Washington-"

"_Martin_ Washington?"

I refrained from staring at her as if she were insane. Of course she wouldn't know _the_ Martin Washington. "There's bound to be a difference there," I pointed out. Cassie rolled her eyes a little bit. I looked away, remembering. "One moment I'm staring at the father of our country. He was a lot shorter than I always pictured him. Maria was giggling over how she'd stolen his boots. Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire. I saw two men fly off the boat, and another simply slump over, a bullet hole in the head. Then- boom! I'm in Chris' barn. That guy wasn't the only one with a bullet hole through the head, it seems." I shuddered. "Then we're in Chris' barn, and everyone's staring at me, and before I could even open my mouth to ask what their problem was - boom! He was kissing me again." I lowered my head and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, we're close." Cassie sighed. "Listen, Cass." She looked at me. "With people like me and Jake, we've got too much on our minds to worry about ourselves. If you _ever_ want to get anywhere with single-minded stone walls like us, you have to start it. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. Otherwise, we're just going to be in our own little world of being terrified of killing someone we love but refuse to find the time to tell them how we feel, no matter how much we both know it, because we know it can't change the fact that we're going to be risking their lives."

She lowered her head. "I'm not like that."

"Neither was Chris. He only kissed me in moments of insane emotions. But then... there comes a point where you can't just let it slide, Cass. Where you have to grab on and not let go no matter what. And that point has really passed. Our lives are too endangered to just pretend you're only friends when everyone, especially you, know that isn't the case."

"What about Rich and Tonya?"

I looked at her, my brows pulled downward. "What about them?"

"You mean... they weren't...?"

"Weren't what?" Then my eyes widened. "Oh... it's... like that here?" She nodded. I shook my head. "No way. Rich didn't even know she existed until this all started, and even then didn't remember her name for awhile. For a little while it looked like something might develop, but... I don't know how stubborn Rachel is, but..."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "I do."

"... he wouldn't even think it. He had a soft spot for her, yeah, and when he... defected... he went out of his way to make sure she wasn't involved. Didn't quite work, but... no way. There isn't a snowball's chance in July of anything between those two. Tonni was raised by an Andalite, remember. Andalites do not take kindly to traitors."

She frowned. "That's sad. I mean, what I see sometimes between Rachel and Tobias ... it's special. To think it might never happen... or have happened...."

"I wouldn't know - but I'll take your word for it." Then I frowned. "Wait."

She looked at me. "What?"

"It never _would_ happen!"

"What never would?"

"Tonni and Rich. Because of Tonya. She's not Tobias. Not like I'm Jake."

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

I closed my eyes, collecting my thoughts. "I've listened to you guys. I've thought about things. Jake and I have the same parents, but my mom is his dad and vice versa. Maria lost her dad a few years ago, and after awhile of withdrawal her mom started seeing other men and got remarried. Her father turned out to be Visser One - something that she didn't know until a year after her mother got re-married. Your parents have the same jobs as Chris' - but his _dad_ works at the Gardens, and his _mom_ runs the Clinic."

"So?"

"So. Everything is switched. Everyone's parents still married, but mothers are fathers and fathers mothers. _Except_...."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Except Elfangor!"

"Except Elfangor," I echoed, nodding. "So Tonni's mother isn't the same as Tobias' dad because, in both our existences, _they have the same dad_. Andalites aren't affected by the sex-switch. So Tobias' mother's counterpart didn't marry Elfangor, because her counterpart would have been a guy."

"So who married Elfangor?"

I thought about it. "Tonni said her mother's name was... oh, what was it? There was this thing a long time ago, when they first met... Elfangor, her mom, and Carter. Lorien Carter - our vice-principal."

"Lorien Carter is your vice-principal?" Cassie echoed. "Ours is Hedrick Chapman."

"Chapman!" I cried, not really hearing her. "Harriet Chapman!"

We turned and looked at each other.

"Oh God," Cassie breathed. "Melissa...?"

"Who?"

"Is Carter married?" I nodded. "Does he have a dau- I mean, a son?"

I nodded. "Michael. He and Rich were buds for awhile."

Cassie sighed. "So Melissa's counterpart _does_ exist... in spite of the fact that her dad's counterpart... I'm confused!"

I shook my head. "Considering I have no idea what you're talking about, so am I."

Cassie sighed. "I just hope this doesn't get worse."

I grinned, and knocked on the hayloft's floor. She looked at me. "Knock on wood," I said, and my grin widened.

Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad - once we figured it out.

__

_to be continued...._


	2. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science-fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team.

In spite of much discussion, the Animorphs and Jack have failed to figure out why she has appeared in their reality, but theorize that it is something related to a Sario Rip, effecting dimensions instead of time-space.

... But this, of course, is only the beginning ...

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #2 - The Connection

__

Long before....

My name is Rich. I won't tell you my last name. None of us will ever tell you our last names. Whenever I do use a last name, it's a fake. Sorry, but that's the way it has to be. And we won't tell you the name of our town, or our school, or even what state we are in. If I told you my last name, the Yeerks would be able to find my friends and me. And if they ever find us, it will be the end.

They might kill us, if we were lucky. If we weren't lucky, they'd do worse.

Yes, there really is something worse than death. I've seen it. I've heard the cries of despair from those doomed to be slaves of the Yeerks. I've watched as the evil gray slugs writhe and squeeze in through the ear and take over what was a free human being.

There are five of us. Just five: Jack, Chris, Maria, Tonya, and me. Maria came up with a name for us, for what we are now. She called us _Animorphs_. I guess that's as good a name as any for what we are. Mostly, I still just feel like a normal kid, you know? But I guess normal kids don't turn into elephants or eagles. And normal kids don't spend their free time fighting to save the world from the nightmares called Yeerks.

That day, the sun was bright. It warmed the earth below us. Warm air rose in an invisible bubble, a thermal. The thermal pushed up beneath our wings and we circled higher and higher and higher, till it almost seemed we could touch space.

Somewhere up there in cold space, up in orbit, was the Yeerk mother ship. Perhaps right over our heads.

The Yeerks are parasites. Though they're just big slugs in their normal form, they have the power to take over other bodies. They have enslaved many races throughout the galaxy - the Taxxons, the Hork-Bajir, and others. And now they had come to Earth, looking for more bodies to control.

Who is there to try and stop them? Well, off in space, there are the Andalites. But the Andalites are far away, and it would take them a long time to come to rescue the people of Earth. Too long, in fact.

On Earth, no one knew of the Yeerks. No one but five kids who were having fun being birds and riding the thermals.

I looked over at my friends. Some were a little way below, some were higher up. Jack was flapping her wings a little more than the rest of us. She had adopted a falcon morph. Falcons don't soar quite as well as hawks or eagles.

Tonya was the smoothest flyer. That was partly because Egyptian crested hawks are natural acrobats, and partly because Tonya had much more practice flying than the rest of us.

Too much practice.

Okay, Tonni, you were right. This is the coolest thing in the world, I admitted.

No it's not, she replied smugly. Try a dive. It's amazing. 

I wasn't exactly sure that I wanted to dive, but what could I say? I never turn down a challenge. So I said, Lead the way. 

Follow me. 

Tonya bent her wings back and plummeted toward the ground like a 

bullet.

I tucked my wings back and went after her.

The ground came rushing up at me.

I was falling! Falling, with nothing at all to stop me from splatting right into the ground!

It was like a nightmare.

We were going like sixty miles an hour, as fast as a speeding car. Sixty miles an hour, aiming right for the ground.

But even though it was scary, it was also way cool.

Forget surfing. Forget skateboarding. Forget even skydiving. You haven't had a thrill till you've ridden the thermals a mile into the air and then gone hurtling straight down at maximum speed.

Air streamed past, just like when you open the car window and you're going really fast. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane. The leading edge of my wings was battered and vibrating. I felt my tail making dozens of tiny adjustments, moving a single feather one way or the other to keep me pointed straight. But one wrong move and I could have tumbled end over end. At this speed, if I suddenly tumbled I feared I could break a wing. A broken wing this high up was a death sentence.

Uhh... Tonya? 

What? 

Note of interest. This isn't like being an elephant. If I got in trouble as an elephant I could morph back to my human body. But I'm a long way up. If I morphed back to my human body... I didn't finish the sentence. But I suddenly had this vision of me - the _real_ me, the all-too-human Richard - dropping like a stone toward the hard ground below.

Don't you trust me? Tonya teased. She laughed in my head, but it was a nice laugh, not mean in any way. Let the eagle do the flying, she advised. Relax and let the eagle's mind do the thinking. She knows what she's doing. 

I'm glad one of us does, I said, trying to sound cynical instead of nervous. It's strange when you're in a morph. You have the animal's brain in with your own. Usually you can control the animal's intelligence, but not always. And sometimes you have to learn to let go, to let the animal take charge.

I forced myself to relax. Instantly the vibration lessened. I felt more stable. The eagle was in charge and Tonya was right: The eagle knew how to fly.

Then, to my amazement, I saw something go zipping right past us, 

faster than either me or Tonya. It was Jack. Her Killjoy's falcon's smaller wings made it harder for her to float on the thermals. But those same wings made her unbelievably fast in diving. It was almost like Tonya and I were standing still.

_Yaaaaaah ha ha!_ Jack yelled in our heads.

I would have smiled, if I'd had a mouth. Jack is like me. She loves excitement and adventure and being a little crazy. Maybe we're so alike because we're cousins.

Also, we're both a little competitive, I guess. At least, I am. It bothered me that she was a faster diver than I was. Just like it had probably bothered her, though not as much, that I could soar better. I guess that sounds ridiculous, huh?

_Zzzziiinnnngggg!_

Something went right by my head.

You hear that? Tonya asked, startled.

Yeah, I sure did - it almost hit me! I replied. What was that? 

I don't know. 

Instinctively, I pulled up out of the dive, straining every muscle in my wings as I opened them, and felt the shock of wind resistance. It was like opening a parachute.

The rest followed my lead. We were still a few thousand feet up, but much closer to the ground than we had been.

_Zziiinnnnngggg!_

I felt something go right through my tail feathers.

Hey, someone down there is shooting at us! I cried.

I can see them, Chris said. He and Maria had joined up with us. They had both morphed harriers, but his was male, and gray, and hers was female, and brownish. Since my eagle didn't see color too well, it was hard to tell them apart because you can't really tell _where_ thought-speech comes from. A guy and a girl, over in the woods. They have a rifle. 

I can't believe this! I snarled angrily. I'm an endangered species! What's the matter with those bastards? 

He's getting ready to shoot again, Maria reported. I can see him taking aim. 

As soon as you see the flash of the rifle, dodge hard right! I barked.

A normal eagle or hawk or falcon would not have been able to figure that out. But we weren't just raptors. We still had our human intelligence. There are times to let the animal take over. There are other times when that 

superior human intelligence comes in handy.

There! They fired! Jack yelled.

Instantly I turned a sharp right. The bullet went whizzing by harmlessly.

You know what? I don't think I like those guys, Tonya said.

Tonya has special reasons for disliking anyone who would shoot at a bird.

Me neither, I agreed. I have an idea. 

I explained what I wanted to do and the five of us flew off, out of range of the shooters, with Maria complaining the whole way that she wished she had a bigger bird morph. We get back, I'm getting the electricuted eagle, she muttered as we neared our destination.

When we were far enough away, we went into a steep dive, down, down, faster and faster toward the trees.

I thought I was scared, diving from high up. Now I was diving at lower altitude, aiming directly at the trees. This was a whole new level of terror. With my eagle's eyes I could see the bark on the trees. I could see _ants_ on the bark of the trees. It was like those trees were right in front of us.

I hoped the eagle knew when to pull out of the dive. If I slammed into one of those trees at sixty miles an hour, I was splattered Spam.

Then, at just the right split second, like a perfectly trained squadron of fighter jets, we opened our wings and swooshed into the trees.

Unbelievable!

_Ah haaaah!_ I heard Maria yell. I don't know if that was fun or just insane! 

It was like some video-game nightmare. We kept most of the speed from the dive and now we were zooming through the trees so fast that tree trunks were just a brown blur all around us.

_Tree! Bank left_.

_Tree! Bank right_.

_Tree!_ Dozen of feathers made the slightest individual adjustments. Muscles in my wings trimmed the angle of attack a millimeter one way, a millimeter back.

_Tree! Tree! Treetreetreetreetree!_

_Yaaaaaaaaah!_ I yelled, half from terror and half from the total, out-of-control thrill of it.

In and out. Around and through. Zoom. _ZOOM!_

Suddenly, there they were, just ahead in a clearing. Two teenaged creeps sitting in the back of a pickup truck. The guy had a blond ponytail. The girl wore a baseball cap. They were a hundred yards away, like being all the way down a football field, but my eagle eyes were so good I could 

count their eyelashes.

The guy with the ponytail had the rifle. His girlfriend was drinking a beer. They were still scanning the skies, looking for us.

Guess what, dillweeds? I thought as we raced at them. We're not up _there_ anymore. We're right here...

In...

Your...

FACE!

They didn't even have enough time to look surprised before we struck.

As the only eagle, I was the biggest of the five of us. I could carry the heaviest load. It was the job Maria wanted, but it was her tough luck that she had chosen the smaller hawk.

I raked my talons forward.

I opened them wide.

"Tsseeeeeer!"

Tonya's hawk let loose an intimidating shriek.

My talons hit the gun barrel and closed on it.

Tonya slashed the ponytail guy's head with her own talons. Ponytail shouted in pain and surprise and loosened his grip on the rifle.

"Hey!" the girl yelled.

_Zoom!_ I was out of there with the rifle in my talons.

With the additional weight of the rifle, it was a struggle getting any altitude.

"That bird has your gun, Steve! And that other one stole my beer!"

I glanced over and saw Maria. At least, I think it was Maria - without Chris for reference, I couldn't tell which of them was bigger. In some birds, there's a difference in the size of males and females, and usually the female is bigger. That's why I'd gotten the female morph of my eagle, even though there'd been a pair in Chris' barn.

Maria(?) had the beer can in her talons, half-crumpled.

They're way too young to be drinking, Maria said in her most parent-like voice.

Yup. It was Maria.

I heard the ponytail guy complaining down below. "That ain't right. It ain't right that no bird should take my rifle like that."

I caught a little breeze and gained just enough altitude to get above 

the trees. But I was having a hard time. My wings were beating the still, dead air of the woods and not getting very much lift. I scraped the top of a tall pine tree and emerged from the woods. Still flapping hard to carry the weight of the rifle, I made it out toward the beach, over the low cliffs at the 

water's edge.

The blessed thermals were there. They lifted me up, up, and out over the water. I relaxed, letting the warm wind carry me higher.

I dropped the rifle about a mile out in the ocean. I figured any jerk who would shoot at an endangered animal didn't need a gun. Maria dropped the beer with amazing precision right into a trash barrel. She looked as proud as she would have if she'd just thrown the winning basket in the WNBA championship.

It's been a long time, Chris warned us as we lazily drifted back toward shore.

There's an old, run-down church no one uses anymore not far from the beach. It has a bell tower, although the bell is gone. We flew there. That's where we had started from. Our clothes and shoes were still piled there.

Four pairs of shoes for the five of us.

Chris, still in his harrier body, peered down at his watch lying on the floor. Good. Half an hour left. We shouldn't try to get any closer than a half-hour, to be safe. 

We began to morph back into our human bodies.

Morphing takes concentration. When you're going from human to animal, it's harder. You really have to focus. But going back to human is easier.

I focused on my human self. I formed a picture of myself in my mind - tall, kind of thin, with blonde neck-length hair. I focused especially on the hair, because I didn't like my last haircut. It was uneven at the bottom. Not that it mattered. I just wished I could do something about the hair when I morphed. Unfortunately, morphing doesn't work that way. The changes began quickly. The feathers that covered me began to melt. They ran together like hot wax. In some places when my skin reappeared, it would have this awesome feather pattern for a few seconds.

My yellow bill sucked back into my mouth to become white teeth. That part sort of itched. It made me want to grind my teeth a few times.

My lips grew out around my teeth. My eyes went from pale gold to my normal blue. My legs grew quite a bit, from about three inches to normal size.

I looked over at Jack and saw the same things happening to her. Let me just tell you - watching someone morph is not a pretty sight. It's the kind of thing that would give you screaming nightmares if your didn't know it was going to be all right.

When Chris morphs, he always does it kind of artistically - almost in a logical way. Like when he changes into a horse, he does it so it doesn't look totally creepazoid - he has a natural talent for morphing. If there is such a thing. The rest of us just let it happen however it happens. The results can be disturbing.

I happened to see Maria at the moment when her full, dark hair came exploding out of her still small, mostly harrier head. "Yahh!" I cried out in surprise.

"Ay, nyew donk luk so good yourself, Richie."

Her entire head was morphing even as she spoke. So the first few words were garbled, and the last were normal as her head became human except for piercing, golden-brown harrier eyes. I'm pretty sure she said "Hey, you don't look so good yourself, Richie." She was probably right. I was glad I didn't have a mirror.

My tongue grew fat in my mouth. My eyesight became faded and dim. The eagle's mind evaporated, leaving me all alone in my head. My wings became arms. My talons became toes. The scaly yellow eagle legs became my own legs, only they were still all scaly at first.

"Nice look, chicken legs," Maria said. "Do those come in extra crispy, too?"

I smiled at her. "You're not one to talk, Mary." I pointed down at the floor. See, her own legs were normal, but she still had huge harrier talons instead of feet.

As my skin began to appear, so did my morphing outfit. Fortunately, after a few tries, we had all learned to morph some very minimal clothing. Usually nothing more than skintight workout clothes or leotards. Not enough to go walking around in, but enough to keep us all from dying of embarrassment when we morphed in front of each other.

I checked on my friends. They were mostly normal again, with just a few remaining hints that they'd been birds a minute earlier.

Jack is kind of stocky for a girl, sort of jock-like in a good way, with brown hair and serious, dark eyes - although at the moment, her eyes were shining with excitement. Sometimes being in a morph is just totally extreme. Jack was a lizard once, and she still hasn't gotten over the fact that she ate a live spider. But I guess she enjoyed being a falcon, because she 

was babbling on and on about how great it was.

"That was absolute!" she said. "It's like now, being back in a human body, I feel like I'm handicapped or something. I feel like I'm glued to the ground."

"And blind," Chris agreed. "Human eyes are so lame for seeing things far away."

He grinned and spread his wings. He had managed to keep his wings till the very end. Now he looked like some strange sort of angel or something. Oddly, the look wasn't all that creepy. The harrier's five foot, gray-and-black wings were incredibly cool.

"Do you think you could fly?" Jack asked him. She looked a little awestruck.

Chris chuckled. "Not a chance, Jack. This body weighs about a hundred pounds. These wings aren't built for that kind of weight."

He morphed his wings into arms in about three seconds and laughed.

Maria shook her head. "Great. When _we_ morph, we look like some mad scientist's genetic experiment gone totally crazy. And Chris gets to look cool."

Chris and I have been friends for a long time, although to look at us, you wouldn't think we'd hang out together. Chris is casual to the extreme. The guy just doesn't care about what he looks like. I swear he'd wear overalls to everything from bed to a wedding if someone didn't stop him.

Chris lives on a farm and his whole family is massively into animals. His mom used the barn to run the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, which is a kind of hospital for injured animals. It's always full of birds and skunks and opossums and coyotes and every other animal you can think of.

Chris' dad is a vet, too. He works at The Gardens, this huge zoo and amusement park. So maybe Chris was just born with an instinct for understanding animals. All I know is he's always finished morphing while the rest of us are still looking like creepy half-human, half-animal monsters.

As for me, well, it's not that I'm Mr. Fashion or anything, but I do appreciate nice clothes. I guess that, plus the way I look, makes a lot of people think I'm stuck-up or something. People do thing I'm cute, or handsome, or whatever. But to me that's just an accident, you know? Since I was old enough to understand the words it's been drilled into me that looks aren't everything, and I believe it with all my heart. It's what's in your head that counts, and that's what I concentrate on.

Of course that's another area where Chris and I are a little different. I guess he would say, "No, it's what's in your heart that counts." He's a 

natural peacemaker. if there's ever a hassle within the group, it's usually me and Maria that caused it, and Chris who got us all calmed down.

"Personally, I'm glad to be back to my regular body," Maria said. "The flying part is great, but it's not a good idea to be able to see that well."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Look, Jack," I said, "how many times have you been walking around the mall or whatever, and you see somebody who seems good-looking from far off, but when you get closer it turns out they're a total skank? I mean , if you could see this well all the time-"

"Excuse me?" Maria interrupted. "I'm sure I didn't hear you just call guys 'skanks'."

"I wasn't being sexist!" I protested. Geez, why does everybody treat me like I am? "It goes either way. See, from far off, I look less like a beanpole." Jack rolled her eyes. She doesn't like being solid. Me, I'd appreciate it - I'm serious when I say I look frail, for a guy. It's kind of sad. People are forever underestimating me, which I hate.

"Your problem isn't with people seeing you too well," Maria said. "It's with people hearing you too well. You honestly _do_ look like a fairly smart guy. Then you open your mouth...."

I grinned. Jack laughed. Maria and Jack traded a high-five.

Maria and Jack are best friends, even though Jack is usually serious; she's thoughtful and always trying to do what's right. Maria, on the other hand, is always sarcastic; she's extremely temperamental, and is the most reluctant of the Animorphs. Maria still thinks we should just give up the battle against the Yeerks and try to stay alive. But with Maria you never know if she _really_ believes that, or is just saying it to be contrary.

"Well, let's get out of here," Jack suggested. "I have homework to do."

"Me too," I said. "And I have a workout scheduled this afternoon and I'm totally out of shape."

Chris sighed and shook his head. "It's such a drag. The chores and the homework all come rushing back as soon as we change back into our boring human selves."

As soon as he said it, Chris bit his tongue. He cast a regretful look at Tonya.

See, while all of us had changed back, Tonya had not. Tonya was still a hawk. Tonya, who had once had unruly blond hair and eyes that seemed hurt and hopeful and sincere all at once.

Tonya had been trapped while trying to escape from the hellish 

nightmare of the Yeerk pool. She had stayed in morph over the time limit.

We had all returned to our human forms, but Tonni was still a hawk.

Tonni will always be a hawk.

CHAPTER 6

Rachel

You know what's cool about my school?

That's right, you don't know. We've never told you where we go to school, or even what state our school district is in. Now isn't going to be any different - I'm still not going to tell you any of that.

What's cool, though, is that Finals Week, if you don't have a final, you don't have to go to school.

So, that specific Monday, I didn't have to go to school for the first time in months.

You know what wasn't cool about that Monday?

My mom.

I woke up to a banging on my door. Blearily I turned to look at my alarm clock.

8:00?!

I jumped out of bed and said a word I shouldn't have. "It's the middle of first period!" I screamed.

"Rachel?" my mom called outside my door.

I ignored her. I hit the alarm set button on my clock to figure out why it hadn't gone off. It was set for 10:30.

Why?

Then it hit me.

Finals Week.

I groaned, falling back on the bed. I tucked my legs under the covers, then pulled the covers over my head. "Mo-om!" I whined. "I don't have to get up today!"

"Yes you do. Up, missy." I heard the door creak quietly as she opened the door. "I know you have the day off from school, but there's some work that needs to be done this morning."

"Like what?" I mumbled under the covers.

"Like the lawn."

I pushed the covers off my head to look at her. "What?"

"Tom has a bug and has been stuck in bed all week." I seriously doubted it had been _all_ week, but I wasn't going to contradict her. "Jake has a final today. The lawn is so tall we could be hiding elephants back there."

I glanced around my almost-new bedroom, forcing myself not to giggle.

An elephant had once hidden in here - and collapsed the floor. But that's another story.

"But Mo-om," I said, reverting to whining as I pulled the covers back over my head, "why do I have to do it this _morning_?"

"Because it's supposed to reach a hundred this afternoon. Do you really want to do it then - when you have to study for _your_ first final?"

I groaned. "But _why_?" I persisted. "Why can't Jake do it this evening, when it cools off?"

"Because he has another final tomorrow, same as yours, remember? Get up! Stop being so difficult. I have to leave for work. Your sisters are already in school, so you'll just have to fend for yourself today. But I expect the lawn done when I get home - no excuses, understand? Getting you up early is a gift, if you can drag yourself out of there and get it done before it gets too hot. I don't want you getting heat stroke." She tugged the covers out of my hands, pulling them down far enough to kiss the top of my head, then put the covers back. "Bye, sweetie. Be good."

"I'm getting paid for this, right?"

"Same as Tom or Jake would."

I pulled the covers back down and grinned. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Mom rolled her eyes and smiled. "Bye, sweetie."

"Bye, Mom."

So much for sleeping in. But then, the shock of sleeping past my usual time and thinking I'd _way_ overslept had woken me up anyway. It 

wasn't like I was going to fall back to sleep any time soon.

Our yard isn't incredibly big. Not like Cassie's. Actually, Cassie doesn't have a yard so much as a small county.

What I'm getting at is that our yard is too small for a ride-on mower.

We have a wonderful, forward-wheel drive, push-mower.

It is _loud_. My Walkman, turned up so loud the words were kind of fuzzy, _still_ didn't quite drown it out.

I went in a set pattern - one end of the lawn to the other and back and forth, avoiding trees, bushes, stairs, etc. It made it quicker. The work quickly became hot - it was at least eighty out already, and humid, and pushing that thing wasn't as easy as it seemed. It might have had forward-wheel drive, but that was more annoying than helpful. It only moved the mower forward when I wanted to stop to tie my shoe, or push hair that had come out of my uncharacteristic, sloppy ponytail out of my face, or get a stick or rock out of the way.

Not exactly the most fun job in the world.

I'm glad Mom usually hires Jake, or Tom, to do it.

My earphones were blasting an oldies tape of my mom's. I don't mind oldies. They're kind of cute sometimes. I was singing along to "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", a very appropriate (and equally ironic) song, which helped to drown out the annoying mower. I was deaf to the world.

Then I heard something that didn't require my ears.

Rachel! 

_Tobias?_ I stopped the mower, and turned off my Walkman.

Yeah, it's me. Listen, something's up. A red-tailed hawk landed in the tree I'd just mowed around, then began preening his right wing, acting like he had every right to be there. I was searching out breakfast. Nothing was showing up in my territory, so I went out farther. You remember that shack the mad lady burned down when she thought you were a Controller? 

I shuddered, then nodded. The last thing I needed was someone thinking I was nuts, talking to myself. I leaned against the mower and wiped my forehead, pretending to take a breather. I kept my earphones on my ears, so it looked like I was still listening to music, even though the Walkman was turned off. You couldn't tell that from far away.

It's back. 

I stood up straight. "_What_?" _That thing had burned to the ground!_ I wanted to cry out, but I stopped myself. Bad enough I'd cried out in the 

first place.

Well, it's back. I'm serious - completely whole. The roof didn't even have any missing shingles, but it's definitely the same shack. There was a golden eagle sitting on the roof. 

I frowned. I thought golden eagles were cliff-dwellers.

Exactly. Then the eagle landed on the ground. And _demorphed_. 

_WHAT?!!_

It was a guy, Rachel. A guy with blond hair. 

Blond hair... Tobias? How could Tobias see himself?

Tobias chuckled. It wasn't me, Rachel. But think - what _other_ blond boy has the power to morph? 

I thought about it.

_David!_

David, Tobias agreed grimly.

I started pushing the mower toward the house. Who cares if the lawn needs mowing? This had to be checked out. _Sorry Mom, couldn't finish my chores, I had a world to save_.

My thought exactly, Tobias chuckled tolerantly.

Thoughts.

I turned around, looking sharply at Tobias. Then I looked around, to make sure no one could overhear me seeming to talk to thin air. "Tobias, I've said one word to you before now."

What are you talking about? 

I grimaced. Tobias, I'm not talking out loud. 

He stopped preening himself, and looked at me. Stop fooling around, Rache. 

What, am I a ventriloquist, now? I demanded, keeping my mouth firmly closed. I swear, hawk or no, his eyes almost fell out of his head. I _told_ you, I've said ONE WORD ALOUD, and I _meant_ it! You've been answering my thoughts! 

Hey! he said, a little too confused to sound more mature about what had me just as unnerved. You're not supposed to be able to use thought-speak! 

You think? I demanded sharply, putting one of my hands on my hip.

He ducked his head a little bit. This is great! Jake's got a cute clone, David's somehow got his morphing power back, and suddenly you 

can use thought-speak out of morph! 

Too weird, I agreed ruefully, and firmly told myself I wasn't jealous that he thought Jacqueline was cute. Look, I'll put the mower away and get out of this sweaty stuff, write a note... you know the drill. Give me ten minutes. 

'Kay. 

We both put the thought-speak incident out of our minds. There were more important things to deal with.

David was loose.

Soon we were in the air. Tobias as himself, the boy trapped in the body of a red-tailed hawk. Me, borrowing the body of a bald eagle temporarily.

Time to check things out.

CHAPTER 7

Richard

I looked around my home with a bit of pride, but mostly disgust.

For one thing, it still smelled weird, no matter _how_ much mint I'd cut and dried. Bunches of it hung around the room, and were stuffed in chinks in the wooden walls and wedged underneath the make-shift shingles I had put on when I first moved here... everywhere you looked there were little bunches of dried mint. But that strange, musty smell, like clothes from an attic, still hung in the room, refusing to die.

For another, the floor was slowly rotting out. A bad thing, considering there _was_ a basement, sort of. A sort-of basement - actually, a former root cellar - where I stored my rations. The place was full of weird smells; stale clothes and stale mint above, dirt and death below. Considering the amount of meat in my diet, I'd quickly come to think of the "basement" as The Grave.

I considered my latest meal; fresh squirrel. Squirrels were hard to catch, considering they weren't really the natural prey of anything I'd acquired, but that was okay. It didn't taste all that bad, either.

Months ago, I'd walked out on Jack. I couldn't take her tyranny anymore. But I hadn't gone far. Dad, and even Mom way out across the country with her ever-so-great job, had given up on ever seeing me again. They'd expected me to go to Mom's, not to the woods less than an hour away from my house.

Thing is, I'm not the kind of person who likes being alone. I like 

being honest. But I couldn't be around people, and lie, without _one_ person I could trust. And, truth is, there isn't anyone _to_ trust _except_ the people I never want to see again.

My cousin. Her best friend. _My_ best friend. A stuck-up alien. A girl....

I sighed, putting the squirrel on the make-shift table. I fell into my rough chair, ignoring the splinters that pierced my thin morphing suit. All I had now was winter stuff and morphing outfits - heavy boots, furs, winter jacket, and various tight shorts, shirts, and spandex items. Right then I was wearing gray stretch pants that were actually from the Big Women's section of a department store, and a tight, sleeveless shirt that matched perfectly. It looked sort of like a sleeveless wetsuit, but thinner material. Hey, it worked, and it actually didn't look half bad. With no money and no outside contact, I could wear women's stuff without anyone giving me a hard time, and without myself really caring. I could have gone naked for all anyone cared.

Don't get me wrong - I _did_ care about that. I wasn't so far primitive that I was going to do that. And there was no _way_ I was giving up my home. I was just stating that no one would have noticed or cared what I did.

It was good that way.

It was also the third thing wrong with where I lived.

There was no one else.

No one.

She stared at me with those eyes, eyes without certain color, eyes that were tender and sincere and hurt, eyes that didn't belong in such a deceivingly blank face.

Just stared.

I looked away.

"Richard, what are you doing?" Her voice - the voice that so often had teased me, guided me, made me see things so differently - was like ice.

I looked at her again. She simply stood there in that odd, dress-like thing she had used to morph in. A sleeveless powder-blue leotard that hooked behind her neck, with flared legs that looked suspiciously like a miniskirt. Maria'd given it to her, just as she'd given Jack her forest-green one. Just as she'd told Chris and me about the Big Women's stretch pants we could get if we weren't too embarrassed. She'd been obscessed with making us look professional - or, in the very least, making it so we didn't clash.

Toniya had no idea how pretty she looked in that morphing outfit, in spite of her blank face.

"What I have to," I replied just as coldly.

Her face didn't register her horror. It didn't give a hint of her hurt emotions. It didn't even give a clue to how disappointed and dismayed she was.

Her eyes did that.

Those terrible, powerful eyes of a color without a name.

Those eyes that haunt me when I least expect it, every time I stop to remember.

"Give me the Escafil Device," she demanded.

I shook my head, clenching my fist around the strangely heavy, dull blue box. "No way. I'm making sure no more mistakes are made. The line is drawn here."

"Diane is not a mistake."

I guffawed. "She tried to kill _you_! You're lucky she's such an idiot she can't tell a seagull from your hawk morph! If it weren't for Chris and dumb luck she would have killed Jack! She knocks out Maria, messes with my family, and she's _not a mistake_?!"

"She's afraid, and so are you."

"Yes, I'm afraid! I'm telling you, we have to get her trapped. _Nothlit_-ized." Her dangerous, soul-piercing eyes narrowed, just slightly. "Don't glare at me. She's not going to get her powers back magically. Face it, Tonni - Diane's a lost cause."

She simply stood there.

"Come with me." The words just popped out of my mouth.

She jerked a little. "What?"

Confusion. Surprise.

I'm an honest person. If nothing else, I have my honesty. "I don't want to be alone, Tonni. I can't go where anyone will find me, but I don't want to do it alone."

She shook her head. "You know I can't do that, Rich. You know. You're stalling. Trying to find a way to get past me."

"No. I want you to come. I... Tonni, please."

She stared at me again.

"Go," she said finally. "Go, and never come back."

"And if I do?"

She stared some more.

"Don't."

Then she turned, demorphed, and flew away.

"No!"

I clenched my fist. "No," I hissed between my teeth. "Don't think. Don't remember. It's past."

Past.

Everything was _past_.

I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I've got nothing," I moaned. In time, I'd taken to talking to myself a lot. It relieved the silence, considering I didn't have any electricity for a television or radio - besides the fact that I was absolutely pennyless, and didn't have any money to buy either one. If it weren't for my morphing ability, which let me get food, my utter determination and independence would have starved me to death a long time ago. "But I can't go back. Not anymore. I can't. There's nothing to go back to."

It was then that someone knocked on the door.

I looked up, startled.

No one knocked.

No one knew about this place.

Unless-

"Go away!" I shrieked in as high-pitched a voice as I could manage. "Or I'll shoot ya brains off!"

"David, we know you're in there!" a girl's voice snapped from outside the door. "Don't make us brake in! I don't know how you're able to morph again, but believe me when I say I'm going to make you regret it!"

What?

I stood up, slowly, cautiously, waiting for the unfamiliar voice's threat to become reality. It didn't. "Go away!" I screeched again. "There be no David's 'ere!"

I heard someone chuckle. Someone with a somewhat low voice made a comment too quiet for me to hear. The pounding on the door resumed. "Damn it, David, _open this door!_" the first voice demanded.

I sighed. "There aren't any Davids here!" I yelled in my own voice. "Just leave me alone!"

"Then who are you?" the angry girl demanded rudely.

"It's none of your business!" I replied. "I don't know you, so you 

can't know me!"

The girl's companion raised his voice. "David, this is Tobias. And don't give us crap - you know Rachel. Just come out quietly before Rachel decides to grizzly you."

Grizzly, huh?

I'd show _them_ grizzly.

You know what? I asked them in thought-speak as I started to concentrate. I hate salespeople who overstay their welcome. One of the 

reasons I never got a phone installed. 

"He's using thought-speak," the girl - Rachel? - said as-a-matter-of- factly.

"We'd better be prepared for anything," the boy - Tobias? - agreed.

I grinned inwardly, even as I morphed. Anything? Not with _me_, buddy.

It was hard to open the door when I was done, but I managed to without gauging the door _too_ badly. I shoved my bulk through the doorway.

And came face-to-face with another grizzly.

He roared a challenge, and slashed me across my face with his long, black claws.

Rachel! Back off! a voice much like "Tobias's" cried.

Like hell, another voice, like the one "Rachel" had used, snarled. This bastard has to pay for what he's done. 

I reared up on my hind legs. Listen to me! I snapped. I don't know who you're looking for, but I'm not this 'David'. And how in hell can you morph?! 

We could ask you the same thing, Tobias's voice pointed out. I couldn't see where it was coming from.

From an Andalite, a long time ago, I replied tightly.

Bull, Rachel spat.

What's your name then? Tobias asked more politely. I told you ours. 

Good point. My name's Richard, I replied, my "voice" strained. Richard _______. It's not David. So _leave me alone_. 

The other grizzly turned to stare at me. No way. 

No way what? 

No _way!_

Stop saying that! 

Tobias's voice was calculatedly cool, like he was trying to keep himself under control. Richard, I think you should come with us. 

My nearly-blind grizzly eyes narrowed. Why, I demanded.

We are Animorphs. 

It was my turn to think _No way!_, but I didn't say it. How the hell did they recruit more if _I_ have the Escafil Device? No chance! Go away! 

Rich, we can take you to Jack, Rachel said.

I froze.

They _knew_...?

No! It was a trick! Jack didn't know where I was - if she was 

captured, she couldn't point out where I was.

Unless... she'd known?

No. She would have tried to talk to me, if she had. That's how she is.

How do you know her? 

That's... a little bit complicated, Tobias said slowly.

It's a _lot_ complicated, Rachel corrected him bluntly. Let's just say we met her yesterday. You know where Chris' barn is. It isn't exactly Chris' barn anymore, but if you're going to be any help to anybody, you'll be there this afternoon. Now, I have chores to do. So go on with your pathetic little life in a shack. Have fun. With that, the other grizzly bounded away.

In my head, I heard Tobias sigh. She grows on you, he said, fondness in his voice.

Then he too was gone, although where... your guess is as good as mine.

Slowly, I demorphed, went back into the shack, and sat down to skin my squirrel. I almost took off some of my fingers at least eight times, simply because I was so completely distracted.

_What, exactly, had just happened??_

CHAPTER 8

Rachel

We waited.

Jake and Jacqueline, standing side by side, their arms crossed, like faulted twin bookends. Cassie, spending way too much time tending to a fox who'd had porcupine needles sticking through its mouth two days ago. Marco sitting on a stall door, swinging his legs. Tobias, preening away, pretending to be nonchalant when he was just as edgy as everybody else. Ax, in human morph, looking almost bored, even though he'd just unmorphed and remorphed five minutes before.

And me, leaning against one of the barn's supports, feeling very, _very_ uncomfortable.

Jake's statement from yesterday was haunting me. "And I notice that neither of _you_ will even consider what _you'd_ do if you were faced with _your_ counterparts," he'd said.

He was right. I hadn't.

Now I knew why. It was kind of eerie, startling... and embarrassing. Yes, _embarrassing_! I mean, knowing that, somewhere in existence, I'm a _boy_? Hel-lo! Talk about awkward!

I now felt a _great_ deal of sympathy for Jake.

That is, until that moment, when we'd been waiting two hours. The 

barn was boiling hot. Mom was right - it had reached ninety-nine degrees 

outside. Inside it was probably ten degrees cooler, but still uncomfortably hot.

"Should've specified a time," I muttered to myself.

Jacqueline - I _refused_ to call, or even _think_ about her, as "Jack" (it was too much like "Jake", just like the rest of her) - looked at me. "So now you can use thought-speak like we do?"

I looked at her, forcing myself not to glare. The simple truth was, she scared me. She made no sense. Her entire existence was impossible. And there she was. She was Jake, as a girl. Somewhere, too, was me as a boy. I knew that now. I know it sounds stupid, but in a way I felt like that was her fault. Yeah, I replied, showing everyone that I could. It was surprising how quickly that became second nature.

Cassie jerked a little in surprise. Marco's head swung around, and he almost fell off the stall door. Jake grimaced. Ax and Tobias didn't show any reaction.

Jacqueline merely nodded. "Mmm," she replied quietly. Any idea why? she asked me in what I knew was private thought-speak.

Why was she asking privately? Should I? I demanded rudely.

I'm not your enemy, Rachel. I looked at her sharply. She wasn't even looking at me, but she sounded so... so direct. So blunt. She sounded like she should have been glaring at me, annoyance on her face, but she wasn't. She was looking at her feet, looking somewhat bored as we waited. I know this is awkward. I'm almost happy Rich is here, because I haven't seen him in so long... She trailed off for a moment before picking up as if she'd never gotten side-tracked. But that's going to be awkward for me, too. Rich and I didn't have a good parting. He thought I was a tyrant. We both did what we thought was right - I stood my ground... and he took the Escafil Device and walked away. You say you found him in a shack not far away? 

She didn't sound accusing, or like she didn't believe me. She simply sounded surprised. Yeah, I replied. Not that far in the woods. 

I'd thought... well, never mind what I'd thought. It doesn't matter now. 

Yeah. What matters now is, that shack? In this timeline, it burned down almost a year ago. A crazy ex-Controller lived there. 

Hmm. 

"Care to share, girls?" Marco's voice cut into my concentration, keeping me from going on.

"It's not important," Jacqueline said calmly. "Rachel was just filling me in a little bit on stuff you guys already know."

Precise but vague, leaving no questions to be asked but nothing answered, either.

This girl was tricky.

A crow fluttered in the hayloft door, took one look at Tobias in the rafters, and took up a perch on the rim of the hayloft door. It looked down at us with dark, glittering eyes.

Jacqueline's eyes narrowed. "Hello, Rich," she said to the crow.

There was no reply.

Marco laughed. "Jack, I think that's just a crow."

She shook her head. "No. No crow, not even a brave one, would be that close to Tobias."

They've been closer, Tobias said. One tried to spook me from a kill once. Would've worked, too, if I was a normal hawk. Crows are intelligent bullies. The thugs of the bird world. 

We heard a chuckle in our heads.

"But crows don't laugh," Marco pointed out unnecessarily. "Cackle, maybe, but not laugh."

Oh, shut up, a voice snapped, just before I could say the same thing in a kinder tone. The voice was biting, bitter, and quite similar to the second voice - the _real_ voice - from the shack. That was pathetic. I know someone who does the exact same thing - a joke for all occasions, especially the ones when they're inappropriate. 

"Rich, behave yourself," Jack said in a calm tone that would've made me grit my teeth, if it were directed at me. The tone was so calm it was almost toneless, an emotionless statement that made me feel spoken down to.

Don't start, Jack, the voice snapped. The crow glared down at her. I have the advantage here. 

"You two aren't going to start bickering, are you?" I demanded. "Seriously, if you are, go somewhere else, because I really don't need to be here to watch."

So you're Rachel. The crow's glittering, black eyes, no different in color than the rest of it, turned on me. They were expressionless eyes, cold as stone, yet alive in that eerie glitter. He spoke privately, but coldly. Impatient. Demanding. Impudent. 

Sound familiar? I sent back harshly.

The black, glittering eyes widened, just slightly, a very human 

reaction. Then the voice chuckled. When he spoke again, though, his voice was bitter and biting again. What's going on, then, Jack? he demanded. Who are these people? Where is Chris, and the others? 

"These are the Animorphs, Rich," Jacqueline said, looking up at the crow. The coldness in her eyes was gone, to be replaced by not-quite- hidden longing. Her professionalism was weakening to her human side. "We don't belong where we are."

_What_ are you talking about? Rich sounded extremely impatient.

Jacqueline sighed. "Look at me and Jake - here." She chucked a thumb at Jake. "Notice anything?"

The crow's head jerked slightly to the side to regard Jake, then Jacqueline, then back again. Then to Jacqueline again. What... he looks like- 

"No. _I_ look like _him_," Jacqueline corrected, without letting Rich finish. I would have found that extremely annoying. "Just as you and Rachel probably would."

He glared at me again. I glared right back. I doubt that, he said.

"I don't," Marco muttered under his breath, smirking just slightly.

We both glared at him simultaneously. Startled by the double glare, his mouth clamped shut.

"Rich," Cassie spoke up, "there's a problem right now. You and Jack are in an alternate universe."

Good old Cassie, diffusing an almost unstoppably hostile situation.

What is this, _The Twilight Zone_? Rich asked. His sarcasm wasn't overpowering, like Marco's, just a slight twinge in his voice that suggested he didn't think Cassie was serious.

"No Twilight Zone," Jacqueline said, shaking her head. "Listen... Rich... could you _not_ stare down at us in that morph?"

I'm not going to let myself be taken off-guard, witch, he snapped. I know your tricks. Shoot first, ask questions later - if you can. 

"You're confusing the two of us again," she said, her voice colder, annoyed. Then her tone became more sincere again. "Rich, please."

He didn't reply.

"He's not crow. He's chicken," I said. "He thinks we're so evil we'd hit him when he's demorphing."

_She_ would, he replied coldly.

Jacqueline stared at him, obviously shocked. Her mouth worked for a moment, then a look of disgust crossed her face, and she turned away. "Fine," she said. "Goodbye again, then." She walked toward the back of 

the barn.

The crow left the hayloft doorway.

"Well, that went well," Marco quipped.

"Shut up," Jacqueline and I said at the same time. I glanced at her, but she didn't turn around. One of her hands reached toward her own face.

She was crying.

I don't know how I knew: I just did. Jacqueline was crying, and she didn't want anyone to see.

"Oh, Jack, quit it. You're the _macha_ leader - act it."

All at once, seven pairs of eyes went to the doorway of the barn.

He was kind of tall, though not extremely so, and built kind of lanky for a guy. He had a bit of a fragile look to his face - the curve of his jaw was a little odd, in a way that made his stern, bitter expression look awkward. He looked like the type who's meant to smile, you know what I mean? Like frowning was uncomfortable. Like scowling, as he was, was downright agonizing.

His eyes were lighter and grayer than mine, and his hair was paler, less blond, closer to white. It was a little long, and somewhat unkept. He wore all gray - a sleeveless gray shirt and tight nylon pants, sort of like the kind big women wear to look thinner. It looked pretty good together, on him - it had a spartan, uniform-type look, and brought out the gray in his eyes. A rough, pale five o'clock shadow made his almost delicate face look even stranger.

He'd look sort of preppie, if he wasn't so roughly kept. Sort of jock-like, too; though lanky and thin, he was muscular, too, but not bulky at all. He looked as if he'd walked off a movie set of some action movie.

Jacqueline stared at him for a long time. "So," she said finally.

The corner of his mouth twitched, turning upward for a split second. "That's your speech?" he said. "Kind of disappointing. I was expecting my head blown off."

Jacqueline clenched her jaw, then - in a blink of an eye - she was across the barn and had her arms thrown around his neck. The shock on his face... it was a Kodak moment. "Damn you!" she whispered. "Damn you to Hell, bastard."

The unnatural-looking stern expression softened a little, and he gently unhooked her arms from his neck. He held her away from him a little bit. The scowl was reduced to a barely-supressed smile. "I'll see you there," he replied.

Jacqueline pulled away, her momentary happiness melting away. "Why, Rich?" she asked quietly. "Why'd you do it?"

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Like I told Tonni, I did what I had to."

"You ran away." Her tone was accusing now, and hurt. "You left us, without even a reason. Why did you _have_ to? What was so important-"

"I didn't want to die, all right?" he snapped, the softness in his face melting into the bitterness we'd only heard in his voice. It made his almost-delicate face look harsher, sharper, and much, much older. "Diane Demonchild would've killed Tonni, almost killed _you_, and yet you were idiot enough to keep trying to _control_ her, just as you controlled everyone else!" Jacqueline wasn't quite hiding the pain she felt, but she was getting there: her expression was becoming more and more blank, unreadable. "You never controlled _me_, Jack. And I think that's the only reason I'm not dead today."

"You're right, I never controlled you," Jacqueline said in the same, soft tone Jake uses when he's extremely angry. "No one controlled you. You just went off and did what you felt was 'right'. Too bad our definitions of that term weren't quite the same. I didn't want anyone dying, Rich - _including_ Diane."

"I never said we should kill her!" he snapped. "I said-"

"We _know_. Here, that's what they did."

"Wh- what?" Rich's expression went from outraged to confused so quickly I blinked in surprise.

"Diane's counterpart's name was David," Jake said. "He would've killed Tobias, except he killed the wrong red-tailed hawk, and almost killed me, if it weren't for Cassie and a lot of luck."

"We trapped him in rat morph and packed him off to a little island a mile off the coast," I said.

"It was my idea," Cassie said softly, then closed her eyes and hung her head a little. Of all the things Cassie regrets doing as an Animorph, coming up with the way to defeat David is one of the ones that have hurt her the most.

Slowly, Rich nodded. "Chris came up with a way. But Jacqueline LionHeart nixed it. 'We won't sink to her level', she preached."

"Diane is one of us now, and you're not," Jacqueline said in a soft, toneless voice. "That's all that matters now."

"It isn't! That bitch tried to kill us all!"

"It's the past, Rich. You want to try and change it, you can go right ahead, but right now we have a bigger problem, here in the present, that you 

can either help with, or go off in your own little self-centered universe and see if you can find a way to change the past. Go ahead. We'll wait."

Suddenly, I could see why Rich didn't like Jacqueline. She was more manipulative than Jake. Jake rarely orders anyone to do anything. But he also doesn't outright embarrass us like the way Jacqueline was doing to Rich. She was both less direct and more focused at the same time. She knew what she wanted, and let everyone else know too. When she thought she was right, she used the most direct way she could to "convince" others to do what she wanted.

Jake would never have said something like that.

That was more like something Marco would say.

Rich didn't glare at her this time. He simply looked her in the eye. "Then screw it," he said. "I choose my world, over yours."

And he turned and walked out.

CHAPTER 9

Richard

"Richard, wait."

I was just starting to concentrate on the crow again. I turned around, glaring at the one who dared try to stop me.

Rachel wasn't the least bit phased by my glare. "Listen to me," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "I admit, Jacqueline's being a bit of a bitch-"

"A bit," I echoed sarcastically.

"Shut up," she replied. "She's being a bitch, but don't fall to her level. There _is_ a problem here. You don't belong here - either of you."

"You told her where I am," I said. "She'll know where to find me no matter what 'universe' I'm in. What does it matter which I'm stuck in? At least this way I don't have to ever see Tonni again."

"Who is this Tonni?" she asked.

I looked at her; she was honestly confused. "Jack didn't tell you about the others?"

"They're one of the others? Yeah, she did, but she didn't mention any 'Tonni'."

"Tonni is Toniya's nickname."

"Oh." A dark look crossed her face. "Why don't you want to see her again?"

"That's none of your business," I snapped, before I could come up with a better answer.

"You bet it's my business!" she replied in a harsh voice, doing all she could to keep her voice down.

Talk this way if you want to shout, I told her.

Forgot, she muttered. _Then_ she began screaming. That hawk in that barn - that's Tobias! Tobias! I _love_ that boy, and he's a _hawk_! I know Toniya is too! 

I forced myself to laugh. Then you're crazy. 

Her shocked expression looked painful. You- I mean, you and- 

Nothing, I said as strongly as I could.

It was true.

There was nothing between Toniya and me.

Nothing.

Unable to look at her, I turned away and tried to concentrate on the crow, but I couldn't. All I saw was a pair of tender, sincere, shocked eyes that would have been crying if they remembered how....

I remained turned away.

You care about her, at least? 

Not... no. There went my honesty.

Don't give me bull. 

She didn't give a damn about me. 

Is _that_ it? 

I wondered to myself, _Why should I tell this girl anything?_ But I told her anyway. I was... a collegue, at most. Someone she worked with. We didn't know each other. I didn't even remember her _name_ for awhile! She wasn't my type - too, I don't know. Spaced out. And yeah, I guess she was plain, too. Then she got caught... she wasn't the same. She became more realistic, less spacey. Focused. Certain of herself. And... about then... 

... about then, you decided you were an absolute freak because you were getting a crush on someone of another species. I looked at her. She smirked a little. I know. About half a year after that realization, I was suddenly..._ very _suddenly... told I wasn't the only one who felt that way. There were hints along the way... but nothing very specific until then. 

That "then" never came. As an afterthought I added, For me. 

She shrugged a little. Your loss. 

Thanks a lot. 

You had your chance. I nearly lost mine, but I was lucky. You weren't. It's not like that can be changed for either of us. 

You're a lot like Jack, did you know that? 

Don't say that - it reflects on us both. 

She glared at me.

I glared at her.

"Coming back?" she asked in that tough, demanding voice of hers.

"After you," I said in my most sarcastic tone, gesturing for her to lead.

"Like I'm going to let you walk behind me," she retorted.

So we walked back side by side.

All in all, it was a purposeless meeting.

Well, not completely.

Everyone was staying where they were comfortable. Jack was going to remain in Cassie's hayloft. I was going to stay in my shack. Everyone thought I was crazy.

The others offered me food, clothing, spare bedrooms, but the only thing I accepted was a watch, so we could meet at 5:00pm the next day. Rachel, Jake, and Marco had finals in the morning, and Cassie, Rachel, and Jake had finals in the afternoon. Jake was grinning like an idiot, glad that it was his last final. "There's something to be said about them all being in the beginning," he said, grinning wickedly at Marco. Somewhere along the line, it'd been mentioned that Marco had two Friday, the last day of finals.

I hadn't known it was Finals Week. I hadn't even known it was _June_.

I don't have a television, a radio, a mailing address, _or_ a calendar. Don't bug me.

The meeting had two final conclusions:

One - We'd meet the next day at five p.m.

Two - We'd remain calm until something more dire popped up.

Great plans, as always.

Great plans rarely go smoothly... at least, for us.

CHAPTER 10

Richard

I stared.

Where my funky-smelling, rotting home had stood... charcoal.

I gripped my hair. "Shit!" I hissed, lacking anything better to say. "This _sucks_!"

I ended up sleeping in a tree nearby.

When I woke up, I was confused. I ached. I looked down through my patchwork roof. "Uh-?" Suddenly I remembered: the charcoal pile that had been the remains of my long-burnt down home.

Before my eyes, the rotted, burnt wood was fading away to be replaced by a much more livable structure.

Cautiously, I got down from the tree, went to the still translucent house, and put my hand out. I felt... something. Like fog. I pulled my hand back, waited for the shack to come better into view, and reached out again. This time there was a bit of resistance, like putting my hand in a plastic bag. The third time was like touching cloth. Fourth felt mushy. Fifth it was solid wood. The last of the charcoal disappeared.

"Shit," I said again.

CHAPTER 11

Rachel

We met again the next day. It was cooler in the barn than the day before, but it seemed... stuffy.

Actually, I think the correct word would be "crowded".

Jake and Jacqueline were, as always, standing near each other, identical expressions on their faces. Jacqueline looked extremely tired; she was wearing the same clothes Jake had given her Sunday. She'd "showered" with Cassie's garden hose - I could only imagine how cold _that_ had been! - but she still looked... haggard. Or, should I say, more haggard than ever. I compared Jake and Jacqueline, even though I didn't want to. Jake, lately, has been looking like he's twenty: Jacqueline looked at least thirty.

"Any luck figuring out what's going on?" Jake asked Ax.

Ax shrugged stiffly. Andalites don't normally shrug, but Ax has picked it up from us. "No, my prince," he replied. "The technical aspects of the Jacqueline Rip are still debatable."

We all looked at Jacqueline as she groaned aloud. She rubbed one of her temples with her fingertips. "He _insists_ on calling it that," she muttered. She leaned against the wall behind her and sighed heavily. "Forgive the lack of enthusiasm." She chuckled humorlessly. "Haven't been sleeping well."

I glanced at Richard. He stood near the door, leaning on the wall, arms crossed. He'd simply walked into the barn today, in stylishly ripped but somewhat old jeans with a too-wide waist held up by a strip of brown shirt, and an off-white shirt. His sneakers were two different brands, but they almost matched. I wonder where he came up with his clothes, if he lived penniless, in a shack, in the woods. Did he scrounge them from dumpsters, take them from garbage cans or Salvation Army drop-off bins?

I shivered, turning my attention back to Ax. He looked confused. "Your theory is the most logical solution to our current circumstances," he explained. "Therefore, it is customary to name the phenomenon after the one whose theory explains its existence."

Marco looked confused. He looked at Ax, then Jacqueline, then back. Then he looked at Jacqueline again. "Did I miss something?"

Jacqueline yawned before answering. "In summary - considering we spent over half an hour on this - I guessed that this is like a Sario Rip, but invuolves parallel universes instead of just time-space."

"Oh." Marco smirked a little, then snorted. "_Duh_. I could have told you that."

"It was more complicated than that," Cassie said. She was trying not to smile. "It involved trees." Jacqueline laughed tiredly.

"You feeling okay, Jack?" Rich asked blandly.

"Been better," she replied just as tonelessly.

I thought about it. Jacqueline had spent two days sleeping in Cassie's hayloft, living off what food we could sneak to her. Rich lived in a shack without plumbing or electricity for months - and what was _he_ eating?

Wait.

Of course.

There was nothing stopping Rich from morphing. He lived like Tobias did - catching it live. He probably stole fruits and vegetable from gardens, like a rabbit, if he hadn't planted his own somehow.

So Rich had familiarity, independence, stubbornness, and probably lesser morals.

No wonder he seemed okay, and Jacqueline, to be blunt, looked like crap.

"I've seen an example of this 'Jacqueline Rip'," Rich said. "Last night, when I went home, it was charcoaled. Burned to the ground. Months ago, from the looks of it. I ended up sleeping in a tree."

"So the old shack is back?" Jake asked.

Rich shook his head. "Woke up around dawn, always do. Looked down, and there was the burnt shack - _and_ my shack. They were sort of... superimposed. Neither really there. The woodpile faded out as my shack faded in. Everything was not quite there."

"I'd say _you_ weren't all there," Marco muttered.

Rich glanced at him, but didn't reply. "Even texture was incomplete. Wood felt like fog, then cloth, then Jell-O, before it actually felt like wood. When I left my floor was gone again. I think I'll stick around here awhile, at least until my house decides if it wants to exist or not."

"That's not right," Jacqueline murmured. "It just fades out? Then what about us? I have no idea when I got here."

"Our worlds are a lot alike, aren't they?" Marco asked. "If you fade from one universe to the other without the houses getting up and moving, are you going to notice?"

I frowned. Marco had a point. "What were you two doing when you ended up here?"

"Running in dog morph," Jacqueline replied. "We had a bit of a skirmish with the Fietha."

"The who?" Marco asked.

Jacqueline shook her head. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that you're right. A car passed by me without a noise. When I turned around it was gone, and I thought I imagined it."

"I was in the shack," Rich said. "A skirl and a jay were fighting. They stopped suddenly. I figured the skirl chucked a nut at the jay."

"Squirrel," I corrected him.

"What?"

"_Squer_-rel. Not _skirl_."

Rich looked at Jacqueline. "What is she talking about?" Jacqueline shrugged.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. I felt kind of dizzy, probably from the heat. I looked around - was it darker? Jake and Jacqueline were in shadow, but Tobias looked kind of pale, and Cassie and Marco simply didn't look... right. Only Ax looked normal, unchanged.

"I think I need some air," I mumbled. I walked stiffly out of the barn; my legs were feeling rubbery.

Rachel? Tobias sounded as if he was too far away, even though he was just inside the barn, and I was just outside. Areyouo- 

I turned around, confused. His voice had faded out, like he'd flown away at full speed or something. Something wasn't right.

Then I realized.

It was just a _small_ thing.

It was the same temperature _outside_ the barn as it had been _inside_.

Perturbed, I walked back in. I didn't feel out of it anymore.

And I stared at who stared back.

A kind of cute black guy. An extremely pretty, Latino-looking girl with thick brown hair. A plain, short-haired blond girl with narrow green eyes. An off-white hawk with an upswept black crest.

And an Andalite.

"Oh shit," I muttered under my breath.

__

_to be continued...._


	3. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team. The next day, Tobias spotted a golden eagle turning into a blond boy. Thinking that it might be David, the traitor who nearly destroyed the Animorphs, he and Rachel tried to confront the boy - only to discover that it was Richard, Rachel's counterpart. After much bickering, the Animorphs have come to tolerate Rich.

The phenomenon which brought Jack and Rich to the others' reality has been dubbed a "Jacqueline Rip" by Ax, much to Jack's embarrassment. Although the actual effects of it have now been witnessed - that objects fade in and out of each reality - the Animorphs are not any closer to discovering why.

... But there is something the Animorphs we know _don't_ know ... or, to be exact, someone. Someone who might be of help.

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #3 - The Comeback

__

Long before....

My name is Toniya. Yes, T-o-n-i-y-a. It's pronounced "Tuh-NEE-a". But most people call me Tonya, so I just live with it. I spell it that way, too, except on those mandatory tests everybody has to do in school. Only one person calls me Toniya anyway - and only when it's just the two of us.

My race home is a blur; one moment I'm running through the construction site; the next, down a sidewalk; the third, I slammed the front door open and slammed it shut. I locked it behind me - bolt lock, chain lock, even the doorknob lock we don't usually use because the key is lost and no one ever bothered to replace it.

"Toniya? That's you, right?"

I couldn't answer: I was so out of breath I was making weird wheezing sounds. I sounded like a dog coughing.

I heard him get out of his slightly creaky lounge chair. He was in the living room. "Toniya?"

I swallowed hard, trying to get moisture back into my completely dry mouth. I forced my breathing to slow into much less noisy gasps. "Yeah, it's me," I managed to rasp.

He appeared in the doorway leading into the living room. "What's wrong?" he asked me.

I looked at him. He was tall, but not overly so, with hair that's sort of brown - at least, _mostly_ brown, with blond and black thrown in - and eyes like mine, eyes that don't seem to be any certain color at all. He was slim, with a bit of a five o'clock shadow on his chin. He wore a plain dress shirt and slacks - he'd probably put his tie over the back of the sofa, where it would stay until another took its place tomorrow when he came home from work, unless I put it away for him. He was barefoot - he always hated wearing shoes and socks. No doubt his socks - brown ones to match his pants - were on the sofa, too, one on each side of his tie. He's neat in his strange habits.

I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck.

He hugged me back, but I knew he was confused, and worried. "Toniya, what is it?" he asked softly. His voice always gets soft when he demands something.

I couldn't lie to him. He always saw right through me when I tried. But I couldn't tell the whole truth. No way. Not now. "I- I went home through the construction site," I said, hiccuping. I knew I was now grounded for two consecutive life sentences, but I didn't really care right then. "I saw - something." Let him fill in the blank for now. "I- it was- it scared me, that's all." I let him go, and concentrated on talking straight. "I'm fine, Dad."

"You're sure?"

I nodded. "I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted."

He was standing in front of the stairs; he didn't move right away. "If you want to talk later - at _any_ time - you know how to reach me." He kissed me goodnight, then moved out of my way.

I raced up the stairs, then down the hall to my room. I was about to close the door when Dude, my cat, ran in, nearly getting his tail caught in the door. He jumped on my bed as I shut the door. I walked across the room to flop on the bed. Dude sat down beside me, with that _humans-are-strange_ look on his face. I rubbed him on the head, which he likes. "Man, Dude, this is nuts. Maria was right. This is so completely screwed up." He sneezed, then began to clean his whiskers. "Oh, you're a real help. Stupid cat." He curled his tail around his feet, ignoring me. "I should've asked for a dog." He glanced at me, finished with his whiskers. This time his look seemed to say, _your mistake, not mine_.

I thought about the Andalite. Tell me about your father, he'd asked me. "My- my dad?" I'd stuttered like an idiot. "He's pretty cool, I guess." _ Trust_ him, the Andalite had said, before pressing his hand to my forehead. I'd felt a jolt, like someone had punched my brain. Then he yelled at me to run, and I did. I ran and hid with the others.

I shuddered. Sensing my unease, Dude dropped his attitude and butted his head against my shoulder. I rubbed his head, tickling his ears in the way he likes it. A purr burst from his throat.

I looked at him, zoning out a bit. He wasn't a big cat - only two years old - a gray tabby with a kind of short, whip-thin tail and ridiculously long whiskers. He was graceful in a careless way. He always copped an attitude unless I was upset or food was, in any way, involved. He loved to chase anything that moved, including string, human feet, and his tail.

Dude stopped purring. A glazed look crossed his face. My hand felt numb. I brought my hand closer to my face. I wiggled my fingers; they moved stiffly, as if I'd sat on them for several hours. Thirty seconds after I removed my hand, Dude yawned, went to my pillow, curled up in the middle of it, and dozed off.

What had just happened?

Then I remembered what the Andalite had said. About touching any animal, about concentrating, about determination.

About morphing.

I grinned to myself, then, closing my eyes, concentrated.

My eyes flew open as my cheeks became incredibly itchy and a horrifying grinding sound emerged from my back.

The room had become much brighter....

_To be honest, I don't remember the girl whose memory that was. At least, not very well. In fact, she too is a memory, a distant one - almost a dream._

Whoever she is, or was... I'm not her.

I am Toniya. I don't take those stupid tests - my dad teaches me at home because I definitely_ can't go to school anymore. Everyone who knows me calls me Toniya or Tonni; mostly I'm not called Tonya anymore. I have an incredibly understanding dad, just like she did, but I have an uncle, too. He's my best friend. My uncle, I mean. Yeah, my dad, too._

And Jack, my "prince". And Chris, my tie to humanity. And Maria, my tie to utter instinct. And Diane, the bridge between humanity and instinct - intuition.

I have six very different best friends. Each of them, both literally and emotionally, are family to me.

To them, I am a friend, a sister, a daughter, a shorm_._

To the rest of the world, I am a freak.

Well, to most_ of the rest of the world._

To some, I'm a danger...

... and, to another, part of a dream come true.

CHAPTER 12

Tobias

She's gone. 

Something had seemed wrong about Rachel not answering. I don't know - maybe it just seemed normal that she could thought-speak out of morph now, so I had expected an answer. Like I said, I don't know. I flew out of the hayloft just in time to see the last of Rachel fade from view.

The others looked up at me, as surprised by what I said as I was to have to say it.

Jack and Jacqueline had equally shielded dread in their expressions. Cassie looked stunned. Marco's jaw tightened as he frowned. Ax... for some reason, Ax scanned the others with his stalk eyes, then stared at me. Something about him didn't look right. Who is gone? he asked.

Who? I repeated. Who else? Rachel! She faded out! 

"Faded..." Cassie's eyes went wide. "Oh, no!"

Ax was still staring at me. What's up, Ax-man? I asked him privately. He was worrying me. What was it that didn't look right about him? He still had four legs, four eyes, and no mouth. He looked... his color wasn't quite right, but that was the lighting. The same lighting that made him look discolored made him look a little bigger. Mentally I shrugged.

It seems there is another problem, Ax said, speaking to everyone.

"What?" Jack asked.

He looked at her... and smirked. I had never seen Ax smirk. Look smug, yeah, but _never_ smirk. I do not know, my princess, he said. Do you? 

Ax had looked at everyone.

Now everyone looked at him.

"Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill," Rich said, frowning.

To my fellow Andalites, he replied. He bowed slightly. The few humans I call friend call me 'Axel' in return. He turned all four eyes toward Jack. What is this, oh prince? he muttered, sounding cold, suspicious. Who are these strangers, and what is... _he_- Ax - Axel? - glared at Rich, ...-doing here? I have never seen an Andalite truly scowl. I did now. So he has made his own Animorphs, then? 

"Animorphs, yes," Jack answered him. "His, no. Axel, meet 'Prince' Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias. Everybody, meet Axel - the 'Ax' from _my_ side of existence."

Axel looked around again. I have missed something, he said finally, his tone bordering on cynical. One moment I am with Maria, Chris, and Toniya. Then Maria became him- he pointed at Marco, -Chris her- he pointed at Cassie, -and Toniya was replaced by... you. He pointed at me. I may only be an _aristh_, but even ones so low-ranked as I know that should not occur. 

"That's.... that's not Ax," Marco said.

"Didn't we just _say_ that?" Rich sneered.

"He just said something humble," Marco continued, "without being accused of being arrogant first. Now that is _definitely_ not Ax."

"He was joking," Jack said.

"Ax _also_ doesn't joke," Marco pointed out.

I both am quite humble and modest, and contain a healthy sense of humor, Axel said. Not to mention, an infallible biological clock, a greater sense of loyalty than any other creature on Earth, and a serious difficulty with understanding what little logic I have found in human behavior. 

"Nevermind," Marco said, shaking his head. "That's Ax."

"Still as smug and verbose as ever," Rich muttered.

Axel looked at him with one stalk eye. Still as aloof and no doubt as foolish as ever, he replied.

I'm not liking this new Ax, I told Jake privately.

Ugh, he agreed.

Then he glanced up at me. He knew.

Marco, Cassie, I spoke only to them, think something at me. 

What's he want? Marco wondered when he glanced up. Then he added while keeping a straight face, I wonder if Tobias tastes like chicken. 

Huh? Cassie thought, looking confused.

Congratulations, I said to all three of them. We _all_ now have thought-speak. And, by the way, Marco, I could get you from here. With these eyes I could put the best seagull to shame, you know. 

Marco took a half step backward and ran his fingers through his hair. This is awesome! he said. Unlike me, he didn't keep quiet. Now we don't have to worry about anyone overhearing us. We can discuss plans in the open! No more hiding! 

Jack looked at him funny, then smiled. Never had _that_ problem, she said. We just sat here looking like we were doing homework. 

On rare occasions we actually did it, Rich added in a soft voice. The two of them traded blank glares.

I believe... this is farewell. 

We all looked at Axel - just as he started to fade away.

"NO!" Jack cried. In three steps she was next to Axel. She tried to grab his arm, but her fingers only held on for a moment before they sank into, then _through_ him. Her hand clenched into a fist as his arm disappeared, along with the rest of him.

"This _has_ to be happening everywhere," Cassie said, when the shock finally started to fade. "People fading in, fading out, being replaced by other people... same with buildings, trees, _everything_."

Jake frowned. "Mom and Dad are freaking because _someone_ replaced our minivan with a station wagon. Only I know the key works with the new car. I didn't know how to tell them that."

Jack tried not to smile. "Bet _my_ folks are _just_ as happy about that."

"What I don't get is Ax and Ax," Marco said, crossing his arms.

"What about the alien boys?" Rich asked snidely.

"That," Jack said. "They're both _guys_. I mean, we got me and Jake, Maria and Marco, Chris and Cassie, but Ax and Axel are both male?"

"Maybe what affects humans doesn't affect Andalites," Jake suggested.

Suddenly my heart just stopped. Just... stopped... dead.

Who's Toniya's father? I asked.

Jack looked up at me. So did Rich.

"Oh, man," Marco muttered.

"_Aristh_ Elfangor," Jack answered quietly.

The silence seemed to last forever.

"_Aristh_ Elfangor?" Marco echoed finally.

Jack shrugged a little. "We call him Al."

This silence _did_ last forever.

"Elfangor's _alive_?" Jake demanded.

Jack gave him a funny look. "Why shouldn't he be? Was he hurt in your timeline?"

Marco covered his face with his hands. "Oh, _man_..."

CHAPTER 13

Toniya

I'm a girl trapped in the form of a hawk, but able to be human again for short periods of time.

I can turn into any creature I touch.

I have a father who's an alien, while my human mom disappeared when I was little.

Alien slugs have taken over a good percentage of my state. All there is to fight them is me, four of my friends, my dad, and my dad's little brother, who, unlike my dad, still looks like a centaur with a scorpion tail, eyestalks, and no nose or mouth.

But I still have to water the lawn. Go figure.

A car slowed down, then stopped, right next to my house. I looked up with lame human eyes. A kind of young-looking man stepped out, taking off his sunglasses as he looked at me. "Do you know how to get to the Bordle Building?"

I knew - I saw it every time I flew downtown. I gave him exact directions. He put his sunglasses back on, thanked me, and, after getting back in his car, closed the door.

As the car pulled away from the curb, it disappeared.

I blinked. "Huh?" I said aloud. Then, quoting Axel - or "Uncle Ax", as I sometimes call him - I said in the same, cynical tone he uses, "I have missed something." I hurried to turn off the hose and went inside. "Father?" I called. Sometimes he works at home, and today was one of those times.

"Yes, Toniya."

I followed the sound of his voice to the den. It's not so much a den as much as a library. The room is a maze of bookshelves. I navigated it expertly to find my dad at the desk under the window. Dad, like most Andalites, is claustrophobic. I wasn't until I became a hawk permanently. "Dad, a car just disappeared in front of our house." He nodded without looking at me, but didn't answer. "That hasn't become normal yet, has it? That's not _supposed_ to happen, right?"

He frowned a little. "Correct." Finally, he straightened in his chair and swiveled to look at me. "But I'm afraid such things are getting unnaturally common."

I flopped into the overstuffed chair that was placed next to the desk just so we could talk here. Next to me was an ashtray holder, even though we don't allow smoking on our property. We'd thrown out the ashtray that had come with it. After all, it served another purpose: as someplace to "sit" when I couldn't use the chair. "Fill me in, Dad."

"You said that Jack disappeared without a trace." I nodded. "Aximili usually has visited at this time when he has, in fact, not."

"Then there's Rachel and that _other_ Aximili," I said.

"Yes." The phone rang. Dad picked it up. "Alan Fangor speaking." He paused. "Hello, Jack." I sighed in relief. "Yes, she is here." He frowned. "A car just disappeared in front of our house." He glanced at me. Understanding, I picked up the second phone on his desk. Old-fashioned conference calling.

I nearly died in relief to hear Jack's voice, even though the first thing I heard was, "-ious trouble. Axel was here for a moment but faded out. Rich just got back from a fly-around and said he saw Tonni going inside, so I called as fast as I could."

"_Rich_?" I echoed. My voice came out as a squeak.

"Yeah." Jack sounded bitter. "Rich. The others found him. Long story."

"What do you mean, Axel _faded_ out?"

"Hard to explain." Translation: I can't say over the phone. "How's the headcount?"

"Wait, where are you?" I asked, coming to my senses. "Where have you been? What happened?"

"Too long a story. Just get to Chris' barn quick, okay? We're getting together."

"We just _were_ together two hours ago," I said, choosing my words carefully so not to reveal anything a phone tap would be interested in. After all, Dad and I could listen to the same conversation by picking up the phone. If Jack was home, then her Controller sister, Tara, could listen in as easily as I was. "You were a no-show."

"Sorry about that. Oh, we're going to have company, so don't take up too much room." She forced herself to laugh. Dad and I traded guarded looks. "Your dad can drive you, right?"

"That will not be a problem," Father said. "We'll be there soon."

"Cool. Thanks, Al. Later." She hung up.

Dad pulled up to the barn and parked the car. He didn't glance up as he walked into the barn. As usual, I flew through the doors of the hayloft-

-and pulled up sharply. YAAH! 

A hawk with a crimson tail was perched in my favorite spot.

I fluttered to perch on the lip of the open hayloft door. Shoo, I muttered at the other hawk, even though it couldn't understand me anymore than if I was talking to it out loud. That's my spot. 

There's more than enough room for both of us. 

With hawk vision I stared at the odd hawk. It stared right back, something no normal hawk would do. Whoa, I breathed. Who are you? 

You know Rachel? 

I felt my heart drop to my talons. The interrogation we'd given her was pretty fresh in my mind. Tobias. 

The other hawk looked down. She's okay, he said, sounding relieved.

"You doubted the mighty Rachel?" someone quipped.

I looked down just as Dad walked in the barn door, and everyone turned to stare.

Jack stood next to a guy who could have been her twin - Jake, obviously. He had the same intent face, same serious air, same ancient eyes. Nearby a cute guy with tanned skin and short, brown-black hair stood with a half-smile frozen to his face. Marco. It had to be, since he'd been the one to make the joke. A black girl with extremely short hair was gaping at Father.

And a tall, actor-like-beautiful guy with a huge scowl stared at Dad, too.

Rich.

Dad looked around at the others.

"Elfangor?" Jake said. It sounded like a question. Dad didn't respond.

"It's okay, Al," Jack said. "These are who they look like."

Still Dad was quiet. He looked up into the rafters, meeting Tobias' hawk glare.

A glare so much like my own.

There's only one reason Dad was probably not doing what he wanted to.

Andalites don't cry the same way humans do.

And Dad, no matter how many years would pass, could never be fully human.

Tobias was me.

Me, without him.

Hello, Elfangor, Tobias said. His voice matched his hawk's face - emotionless. Incapable of expression.

"Hello, Tobias," Father replied. "Rachel has told me of you." Somehow he broke eye contact with Tobias. "She has told us of all of you, as has... an Axel we are unfamiliar with."

"Ax is ours," Marco said. "Axel's yours. Let's do it that way."

"Agreed." Dad frowned. "Rachel has been with us for two hours."

The others looked at each other. "She disappeared twenty minutes ago," Jake said, "tops."

Jack's been missing for almost two weeks, I added.

Jack frowned. "Two days here."

Marco groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Bad enough we traded Xena for traitor-" he stole a glance at Rich, who made a point not to look at Marco, "-but we've got time differences going on? What's with that?" He looked at Jack, as if she had the answer.

Jack shrugged. "Beats me. Just because Ax named this stupid thing after me doesn't mean I understand the slightest bit of it."

"It would help if you explained what you have figured out so far," Dad said. "We might be able to help if we knew what you know."

As Jack began to explain, I looked more closely at the others. The resemblances were eerie, right down to the shape of Jack's and Jake's eyebrows to the exact way Marco parted his hair, a perfect match to Maria's. The only things more eerie were how everyone else stared at Father, and Tobias.

I couldn't imagine what he could be like. I had to force myself not to stare at him in absolute shock. Here was a guy, who was me. But, not only was he a _guy_, but he hadn't had Dad's support from when he got trapped. From what Rachel had said, he didn't have anyone to turn to at all.

I would have fallen apart if it hadn't been for Dad. I would have just let my soul go and lived as a partially-albino Egyptian Crested Hawk for the rest of my life. I wouldn't have met Axel, or been given my morphing capabilities back. Without Dad, I wouldn't be alive. It's that simple.

How did Tobias manage to do what I couldn't imagine? How had he lived without a single person who cared?

I had only had one person who cared. But Father cares a lot about me. I don't know anyone who's as close to their father as I am to mine.

How had Tobias dealt with it? Could I have done the same?

I know that, to the others - the others that make up the Animorphs I know - I'm a sort of warning. They're all afraid of me, in a way. I'm the perfect example of what happens when you stay in morph too long.

There was no doubt in my mind that Tobias set the same example for his own Animorphs.

But I don't think he was scared of me. I _know_ I was scared of him.

Tobias scared me.

A lot.

CHAPTER 14

Tobias

Hello, Elfangor. 

Was that me? Was that deadpan voice, that computer recording, really _me_? _Me_, saying hello to Elfangor, the man who had given us the morphing abilities, the one who given us a fighting chance... the one who given me life?

That was _me_?

"Hello, Tobias," Elfangor replied. "Rachel has told me of you." Then he looked away and said something I didn't quite hear.

I couldn't believe it. I had imagined this moment every day since finding out Elfangor was my father. What I would say. What he would say. What had happened? Why had none of it happened?

Was it because this wasn't the Elfangor I wanted to talk to? Or was it more because he was human?

I don't know. For some reason, seeing Elfangor as a human was disappointing. It wasn't that he was butt ugly - he looked like a good guy, with brown hair with blond and black mixed in, a serious face with eyes like my human ones, eyes that didn't seem quite certain what color they were supposed to be. He wasn't tall or imposing, just an average height and build. Sort of what I imagined I'd look like in ten years, with darker hair.

As the others talked, I saw Elfangor do a sort of strange half step. Toniya, Rich, and Jack didn't seem to notice, but Marco raised an eyebrow. Jake and Cassie glanced at him, trying to figure out what he was doing.

With my hawk-eye view - not to mention my hawk eyes - it was easy to see.

Elfangor had slipped off his shoes.

I guess he didn't like shoes. That's okay. I don't either, now. They seem confining, restricting. Like lead weights. Human feet are lame.

Jack began explaining what little we knew to Toniya and Elfangor. It quickly became obvious that Toniya wasn't paying attention. Tobias? 

She was talking to me? Yeah? 

I... She'd been looking at me with her odd, gray-brown eyes: now she looked down toward the others. What was it like? I mean, without Fa- without Elfangor. Who did you live with? Your mom? 

My mom disappeared when I was little. 

Oh. She paused, still not looking at me. Mine too. But I still had Dad. 

Mostly I got shuttled between aunts and uncles. 

Oh, yuck! Then she cringed. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean- 

I sighed. No, it's all right. It really _was_ pretty nasty. None of them cared. They just kept me long enough to make one of the others feel guilty, then shoved me down the line. They didn't like it, I didn't like it, nobody liked it. Nobody liked me. 

That can't be true. 

I was shuttled all over the country, I answered coldly. I didn't mean to sound harsh. I didn't want to. It just came out that way. Each year I'd end up in a different school than the year before. You know how many relatives we have. You know what they're like. 

Uncle Martin? 

Aunt Martha. I spent a year and a half with her. 

Oh.... that was so inhumane of whichever bastard sent you there. Forgive my Portuguese. 

I would have smiled in spite of myself, but my mouth isn't exactly made for that.

CHAPTER 15

Toniya

Forgiven. You're exactly right, though. That was the absolute worst time of my life. Worse than this. 

I don't doubt it. I looked down at Dad. I can't imagine life without him, I said quietly. How could you stand it? How did you hold on? 

I had the others, he said. He looked downward too, toward the others. Toward Jake, Marco, and Cassie. Sure, Marco made cracks about it, which hurt sometimes... but they were there for me, right from the start. Especially Rachel. I cringed at that. Um... I don't want to... pry, or anything... but... um... 

I would have smiled at his tongue-tiedness. You sound like you swallowed a live mouse. I'll just say it. There's nothing between Richard and me. I looked down at the familiar white-blond head, feeling my heart freeze. Nothing, I repeated.

Marco looked up at us, first at Tobias, then me. The others had fallen silent. "Hey, birdbrains," he said. "We know how much Jack and Jake, and Rich and Rachel look alike. Care to give the curious a Look-a-like contest here? You guys verses Jake and Jack."

Tobias and I looked at one another. Want to? I asked him.

I was about to ask you the same thing, he replied with a chuckle.

I don't see where it'd hurt anything, I said.

Let's do it, he agreed, spreading his wings.

We fluttered to the floor. Let's see how illogical the same morph is for the same person, I suggested. We morph on three. 

One... two... he counted.

Three! we said at the same time, and concentrated.

At the same time, dirty blond hair sprouted from two very different hawk heads, blinding us both. I can't see! Tobias told me.

Neither can I, I agreed, irony in my voice. Guess we'll have to judge by how freaked out the others look. Tobias laughed.

I began to grow into my hair. The heavy black crests on my forehead became eyebrows. My beak sealed on itself, softening into my human nose, and a new mouth appeared below it. My wings lost feathers, growing into human arms, but they ended in single fingers. More fingers began to sprout before I had hands. My talons grew Hork-Bajir size before shrinking into human feet. The last things to develop were my hands. I brushed my hair out of my eyes.

The others were staring at us in utter disbelief.

I looked at Tobias. He was my height, dressed in bike shorts and a tight tee shirt. He was kind of lanky, like I am, with limbs that seem a little too long, with mussed dirty-blond hair cut at the base of his head, making it about four inches shorter than mine, which goes to my neck. His eyes were like mine and Dad's, half sort-of violet, half an unnamable color. His shoulders were a bit wider, and he was skinnier than me.

He forced the corners of his mouth up into a vague, unpracticed smile. I did too.

"That was totally freaky," Marco said, breaking the silence.

"Morphs never make sense," Cassie said, shaking her head, "but somehow yours made the exact same _lack_ of sense."

"Total synchronization," Jack breathed. She raised one of her hands to her face, and bit her knuckle. Then she took her knuckle out of her mouth. "That was freaky," she said finally.

"It's good to see you again, Tonya."

It took me a moment to realize that someone was talking to me. I haven't been called "Tonya" in close to a year. I looked toward a stall.

Rich was looking at me, his expression carefully molded to be as blank as my own. "It's been awhile," he added.

I looked away, not answering him. I forced a smile towards Tobias. "I think Jack and Jake win," I said.

He shrugged slightly. "That's okay," he said. "It's not like they get anything for winning."

"Actually," Dad said slowly. The other Animorphs - the ones I didn't know - looked at him. Tobias looked at him, too. "Actually, I would call it a tie."

Slowly, Marco nodded. "Me, too," he said. Then his shoulders slouched. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," he said, "but I miss Rachel. It hasn't even been an hour yet. I've lost it."

"Twenty minutes here, two hours home," Jack said. "Two days equals two weeks. Ax said that this probably wasn't a Sario Rip because it affected space and not time. Obviously it does, if there's a lag back home."

"So it _is_ a Jacqueline Rip?" Marco teased.

Jack cringed. "Don't remind me."

"Is it an equal lag, though?" Cassie asked. "Is it just a random flux, or is there a steady difference?"

"There is a difference of a factor of 6.5," Dad said. He leaned heavily against the doorway of the barn, crossing his arms, thinking. "For every second spent here, six and a half seconds pass in our universe."

"Rachel said that it seemed to get darker as she passed between dimensions," I said. "Obviously, it's possible to see the change as you go from the slower universe to the faster one, but not the other way around."

"It probably also depends on how fast you go between them," Marco suggested. Then he thumped himself in the side of the head. "Okay, someone shoot me now, this is starting to make mathematical sense. Of course, if it made logical sense, it'd be even better. Hold off shooting me until this makes complete sense."

"We'll do our best to restrain ourselves," Rich said, smirking slightly.

Marco looked at him in surprise. "Did you just respond to a joke _without_ a death threat?" he asked.

"I don't like wasting my breath," Rich replied. "Besides, if I'm stuck here, why should I sulk?" He looked at me again. I looked at Dad, avoiding Rich's eyes.

Tobias glanced at Rich. Give me Rachel anyday, he muttered.

Same here, I agreed. He keeps looking at me. 

You keep looking at him, he pointed out.

I can feel his eyes. I wish he'd stop that! 

You two aren't even on good terms, are you? 

Once we were, I said quietly. But we never will be again. Tobias didn't say anything to that. I was glad. I didn't want to talk about it.

I didn't want to talk about the crush I'd had on Rich ever since I first saw him, since he'd smile at me once in awhile, in the halls. He vaguely knew me, in the beginning: we had math class together, though we sat on opposite sides of the room. We saw each other in the halls sometimes.

I remembered, when I first became trapped, how much Maria avoided me, how little Jack had to say. I remembered Chris' pity. I even remember, with regret, how withdrawn Dad had become for a little while, though he was a great deal of help in teaching me to deal with two sets of instincts. Of them all, only Rich still treated me exactly the same. Not exactly like a friend, but as a person. He made me feel the most human. Sure, he never called me Toniya, or Tonni, only Tonya, but I didn't mind. I'd still been used to it then. I appreciated it, because Tonya, to me, became what was human in me. Toniya was the bird, and the Andalite, in me. Tonya was my human self. Rich helped me to keep hold of that human.

When I looked at him, I felt that. I felt Tonya wanting to smile, maybe even hug him. But I felt the hawk's disgust with that idea, the discomfort with the idea of being crushed to something else. And I felt my Andalite heritage, too, the part of me which truly was Toniya, the bitterness and anger. The strong pain of being betrayed.

I glanced at Tobias. He glanced back.

Suddenly, irrationally, I felt jealous of him.

Why?

He had never known Dad.

I know, that sounds absolutely ridiculous. I love my father, more than anyone, and have no idea what I would do without him.

But he raised me, without my mother. My mother disappeared when I was little. From the time I was five, the only one to raise me was an Andalite trapped in the body of a human. He raised me the only way he could: as another Andalite, in another human body.

I have human instincts and hawk instincts, but I also have a human soul, and an Andalite soul.

Never having known Dad, Tobias only had to deal with two personas of himself.

I have to deal with three.

CHAPTER 16

Tobias

The meeting broke up slowly, ending with me and Toniya demorphing, Jack and Rich going up into Cassie's hayloft to sit on opposite sides of it, and the others heading home.

Tobias? 

I looked at Toniya. I couldn't get over the strangeness of her morph. It was an off-white bird with gray-brown eyes and a heavy black crest that swooped from her forehead. The crest resembled small black wings, giving her an elegant, scholarly appearance, kind of like how the feather formation of a great horned owl makes it look powerful and dangerous. Her beak and talons were gray. Her wings were longer than mine, and somewhat bowed, making her more streamlined. What kind of bird are you, anyway? I teased.

Partially-albino Egyptian Crested Hawk, she replied. Most aren't as pale as me, and their eyes aren't this color - more like yours. Cool, huh? 

You morphed an exotic hawk? 

She laughed. Exotic? Hardly! You don't have crested hawks? 

Egypt isn't exotic? 

She laughed again. Okay, so you guys don't have my kind here, she said. Egyptian crested hawks are a group of crested hawks who were given our common name because our crests resemble the eye make-up of ancient Egyptians - you know, the coal used to make their eyes look longer. 

I thought about it. Yeah, her crest sort of did that. I chuckled. I just got a common old red-tail, I said.

Common? She sounded confused. Huh. I thought you were a Harbinger's hawk, though you don't have the red-tipped wings. 

Harbinger's? Never heard of them. 

She laughed. Just as I've never heard of a red-tail, she replied. Tobias, she said again, instantly serious, do you want to come home for awhile? 

Come... home? I echoed carefully.

I think you need time with Elfangor, she said. There's bound to be plenty you want to ask him. And I know there's plenty that he'll want to ask you. 

I don't want- 

Oh, come off it. You won't be intruding on anything. She sighed. I know this must be strange, Tobias. I was surprised when Rachel said you knew, even though you'd never known your dad. You might be afraid, Tobias, but I think you need this. 

I looked down.

Below, Elfangor was looking up at me. A sad smile crossed his face. "I..." He sighed a little. "I must say that I both look forward to, and am overwhelmed, with the idea of speaking to you, Tobias," he said finally. "The feelings I have about it are countless and many contradict themselves." I chuckled a little, uncertainly. Elfangor's smile grew a little. "I would like to know you, Tobias," he added quietly.

What could I say to that?

Sure, I said. I'll come for dinner. 

***

I flapped quickly after Toniya. Her longer wings caught the fading thermals easier than mine did. Where do we morph to go in? I asked.

Toniya giggled. We don't, she replied. Follow me. She dipped her right wing, turning smoothly, then started descending.

I was about a hundred feet behind and two hundred above her, trying not to look like I was following her. I banked right and brought my wings tighter to my body, picking up speed, cutting the distance between us. It's weird, I said. I mean, you live where I did. 

Isn't it? she agreed. Then she yelped. Pull up! She angled both wings up, shooting almost six feet straight up from sheer momentum. We'd been heading for an attic window, one located away from the street. Instead we landed on the roof.

What's wrong? I asked, folding my wings. My talons found it easy to grip the rough shingles.

Our house, she said. This isn't it. 

I looked over the roof's peak. Elfangor's car - a bright yellow convertible, definitely not what I would have thought he would choose to drive - pulled into the driveway, jerking to a sudden stop. Elfangor opened the door quickly, staring at something in front of him.

It's not our house, Dad, Toniya said. We climbed to the peak of the roof, where he could see us. The window's shut. 

I heard the front door open. "What do you want?" a rude voice demanded. I stiffened, startled.

I had never regretted not going home after I became trapped as a hawk. No one cared about me anyway.

Especially not that voice.

Elfangor regarded the person we couldn't see. His eyes narrowed, and his mouth turned downward into a harsh scowl. "Do you know where Anderson Street is?" he asked in a toneless voice.

"That way," the voice snapped. "I know you from somewhere. Who are you?"

Elfangor glanced up at the roof. At me. "Tobias _____," he replied, using my name. I didn't have the same last name he did: I suppose the Ellimist changed it, or something.

The person below stomped off the stairs and came as close to running as he probably ever had in his entire life.

Oh my God, Toniya whispered. Is that- 

Yes, I replied softly.

"What do you know of that boy?" he demanded, grabbing Elfangor's arm with one of his greasy, beefy hands.

Elfangor's glare turned on him, and his scowl grew even harsher. "What did you?" he replied coldly.

"That boy," the man snapped, "that worthless, arrogant little brat, ran away months ago. Good riddance, I'd say, if I didn't have to pay _fines_ for it!" he snarled. "Social services came here, dared call _me_ a bad guardian! Bah! Bad _kid_, I tell you! Always off doing whatever he wanted, never giving a shit about what I told him to do. Bad _guardian_? That kid belonged in a delinquent farm. Now _where is he_?" he demanded. "Where is he, so I can get these damn social workers off my back and put that little shit where he belongs!"

For the first time, he truly looked at Elfangor, and, in doing so, decided to let go of his arm and take two steps backwards.

Elfangor's expression was _that_ dangerous.

"Tobias is where he belongs," Elfangor said in a quiet, cold, dagger-like voice. "And so are you." He turned away, getting back in the car, and drove away.

Confused, afraid, the person below watched Elfangor's car pull away. Then, shakily, he went back into the house.

For a long time I just stood there, thinking it over in my head.

You okay, Tobias? 

I jerked a little, opening my wings slightly, before catching myself. I'd forgotten Toniya was there. Yeah, I replied. I would have smiled if I could have.

Elfangor had stood up for me.

My father had stood up for me.

Yeah, I said again. I'm okay. 

That's good, Toniya said. A smile appeared in her voice. Dad wants to meet us at Burger King. He doesn't want to miss our dinner date. 

I chuckled. I couldn't remember a time when I'd ever been happier. Neither do I. 

***

The three of us walked into Burger King, me in a pair of Toniya's sneakers and jeans. Funny how prepared they were - in the car's trunk there were three changes of clothing and three pairs of sneakers. There was also a suitcase. "Trust Dad to be prepared for dinner for everybody," Toniya joked. "Plenty of clothes for me, because we sometimes go to dinner together, but the suitcase has a change of everybody else's, since there's no telling when we'll have company."

"And there's the unfortunate rule of no shirt, no shoes, no service," Elfangor added. "I suppose they don't serve many of my people."

"Your people don't generally eat in restaurants," Toniya giggled.

Elfangor nodded. "True. We make due with what's lying around. What do you two want?"

"Chicken tenders," Toniya replied, sliding into a booth. "And some french fries. I haven't had french fries in ages." I slid into the seat across from her.

"Ah. You want to go cannibal tonight," Elfangor said, smiling at her teasingly. Then he turned to me. "Tobias?"

For a moment my voice caught in my throat. Elfangor had just totally paid back for all my years of hell, and he called me by name. I don't know. I just felt overwhelmed for a moment. "Sounds good," I said. "I'll have that too."

"Two cannibal orders," he said. His smile widened. "Just water? Or do you want carbonation and sugar added?"

"Sounds good," Toniya said. "I'll have a Sprite."

"Coke for me," I said.

Elfangor nodded a little. "I'll be right back." He left to get on line.

I looked at Toniya. "I can't believe this is happening," I said. "It's just too unreal."

She smiled. "I think it's cool."

"It is." I looked over my shoulder, at where Elfangor stood third in line. "It's just... this is... so..." I shook my head, turning back around. "It's so normal. I've never had normal. And it seems so natural."

"Doesn't it?" she agreed. "I feel like, 'Okay, I have a twin brother', even though I never did before. Have a brother, I mean. Closest I could come is Axel."

"I feel..." I tried to put it into words. I couldn't think of the word I wanted. There was one - just one - okay, maybe a few. But they were specific. I knew if I just had one I'd know the others. But what was it?

"Adopted?" Toniya suggested, giggling.

I laughed. "Yeah," I said. "And free. And happy." I looked back at Elfangor again. He was placing our order. "I mean, I've never actually gone to a fast food place, sat down, and had a conversation. It was always like, 'Eat, don't look up, don't say anything'."

Toniya leaned over, taking my hand in hers. "It's okay, Tobias," she said quietly. "I have a vague idea of what you had to go through, because I know the people you had to deal with. And that vague idea scares the hell out of me. I understand."

I looked at her. "You're better at facial expressions than I am," I said. I wanted to change the subject.

She sat back down, letting my hand go. As she had said, she understood. "Part of Dad's curriculum," she said. "Calculus in the World, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Physics as Used in Everyday Life, The Seven Billions Ways to Smile. He's pretty thorough."

Elfangor put the tray on the table. "Vandals," he said. "The prices went up again." He put a medium soda, small fry, and chicken tenders box in front of each of us, then stood there a moment. Who would he sit next to?

The pause seemed to last forever, but finally Elfangor slid in beside Toniya. I was a little disappointed, but mostly glad. This was the first time Elfangor and I were really getting face-to-face. It was still too early to be side-by-side. He'd gotten a chef's salad and what I guess was either Coke or Diet Coke, or maybe root beer; his drink was dark, like mine.

"Ugh, Dad," Toniya said. "You eat way too many greens."

"Old habits die hard," he replied. "I wasn't sure what you liked to put on your food, Tobias, so I got a lot of everything." He gestured slightly at the pile of ketchup and mustard packets on the tray.

Toniya and I reached for the same mustard packet; she giggled, snatched it, and threw it at me, then took another one. I picked the one she'd thrown out of my lap and tried to tear it, but I had lost the technique. It took me four tries to get it open. When I did, it ripped down the side. Mustard dripped all over the table and my food. I glanced up, cringing a little, but Elfangor simply stuck a forkful of lettuce in his mouth with one hand, and with the other he reached over to the napkin dispenser and, taking one out, held it out to me. "Thanks," I said, taking it. I wiped the mustard off the table, then reached for a second packet. I managed to get it open without making a mess.

We ate quietly, but it was a nice quiet, the quiet of people comfortable with one another who really had nothing to say. Every once in a while I'd glance at Elfangor, or Toniya. If they caught me, they'd smile slightly. Once, when I was taking a sip of Coke, Toniya caught me glancing at her. She stuck out her tongue, which had a french fry on it, and crossed her eyes. I nearly spit Coke out all over them. Toniya burst into giggles, nearly choking on her french fry. Elfangor glanced at both of us, shook his head tolerantly, and ate one of Toniya's french fries.

As we were leaving, some kids came into the restaurant. One of them glanced at me, stopped, did a double take, then grabbed my arm. "Tobias?" she said.

I looked at her - and stared. "Rachel!"

She grabbed me right there, in the doorway of the Burger King, and kissed me. "Oh my God!" she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Having dinner," I replied, confused and a little embarrassed. "What about you? When'd you get back?"

"She hasn't gone back, unless I missed something," one of the kids who'd come in with Rachel said. She was kind of short, with deeply tanned skin and long, thick brown-black hair she wore loose over her shoulders.

"Rachel isn't back," another, an African-American boy about an inch taller than the deeply tanned girl, said. "Toniya and Al are."

"Who knows anymore?" a third said, rolling her eyes and shrugging. She was kind of tall, but not as tall as Rachel, with blond hair and sharp green eyes. "This whole stupid thing has me so confused I've stopped trying to figure it out."

There were two other kids with them, ones who were obviously brothers... and yet they weren't. "That's not a good mindset to be in," one chided the third speaker. "Hello, Tonni, Al."

"Hello... Al," the other echoed in a quieter, shakier voice.

"Tobias," Rachel said, gesturing to each of the kids in the order they'd spoken in, "these are Maria, Chris, Diane, and Axel. And you know Ax, of course."

"The house," Toniya said. She looked a little pale. "As I was flying toward the attic window it suddenly became shut. We must have crossed back."

"Actually, maybe everything but you did," Maria said. "Could we all hop into the car and discuss this?"

Chris smiled a little. "I thought you were starving," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm allowed to lose my appetite, aren't I?" Maria retorted. "Oh, and, Al? Can we stop in the drive-through on our way out?"

CHAPTER 17

Toniya

It was a little crowded, but we all managed to fit in the car.

Maria, Diane, Axel, and Dad sat in the front seat, Maria, Diane, and Axel munching burgers. In the back, Rachel and Chris sat on either side of Ax. Chris held me in his lap; Rachel held Tobias in hers. The top of the car was down, making it more comfortable for Tobias and me. Neither of us like roofs much.

"So," Rachel finished, "here we are. We all decide to have dinner and who do we run into but you guys."

How long has it seemed to you? I asked Rachel.

"Hours," she replied. "I'm sleeping over with Axel, Ax, and Diane tonight at the scoop."

"It might be generous to suggest that solution to the others, for Jack's sake," Dad suggested, "when we see them. It is warm enough that it would be much more comfortable on the grass than in the barn."

"If," Maria mumbled through a mouthful of cheeseburger. She paused to swallow. "There's no telling why this is happening. There's no telling when it'll stop. It could be done, for all we know."

Suddenly, the station wagon ahead of us was replaced by a sports car. The driver swerved, narrowly missing a car in the other lane. Dad hit the brakes, slowing to get more distance between us. The person behind us honked.

"Or not," Diane muttered.

"I wish things would return to _fading_ in and out," Rachel said. "The suddenness is too much. That was a near miss. I hope the station wagon was as lucky."

Chris nodded. "It's happening everywhere. Did you know our presidents got switched?"

What?! Tobias and I both cried.

Rachel smirked a little. "They're trying to keep it quiet, but the Chee that got here like we did have pretty cool equipment with them. We listened to a phone call between Secret Service people. Seems the Presidents got switched during dinner. I'm especially fond of the quote, 'The President's husband is going nuts'."

Husband? Tobias echoed.

"The president's the same person in both timelines, Tobias," Rachel smirked. "You know what _that_ means."

Tobias chuckled. Okay. I get it. You _would_ love that. 

A car passing by us changed from gray to green. The stoplight we went under went from yellow back to green.

"The changes are obviously getting more obvious," Axel said.

"Obviously," Maria echoed. I couldn't see her smirk, but I knew it was there. Perhaps Axel doesn't repeat sounds like Ax does, but he tends to use English strangely.

"That is what I said," Axel replied. Then I vaguely heard him count from six to ten under his breath. When Axel eats in human morph, we've given him a rule: he has to count to ten between the time he swallows and the time he takes his next bite.

"That suggests that the Jacqueline Rip is accelerating," Ax said. "Jacqueline. _Jack_-klen. Jack-quel-line. Jacqueline's name is a very satisfying combination of sounds."

"Why else would we hang out with her?" Maria asked him. "She's rotten company. We just love saying her name."

I saw Axel glance bitterly at Maria. Maria turned to him and smirked. "Hey, Axelrod, do you like see-food?"

"Not in the car, Maria," Dad said. "Please."

"You do not have seafood," Axel reminded Maria. "You have dead cow."

"Thanks for reminding me," Diane groaned. "Axel, have the rest of mine, please. Go ahead."

"I'll show you what I meant later, Axel," Maria snickered.

Pun warning, Axel, I told him.

"Don't tell him!" Maria told me, turning around to glare at me. "No giving warnings, Tonni. Every Andalite has to learn popular culture by living it, not by being warned about it."

"Focus, people," Chris said. "What would a more noticeable amount of changes mean?"

"It would suggest that the phenomenon is picking up speed," Axel replied.

"Which could mean two things," Dad added. "It is either reaching equilibrium - or heading for utter chaos."

"Wonderful choices," Maria muttered.

"I don't think I like choice two," Diane said. "But what would happen with choice one?"

"That has _three_ possibilities," Dad replied. "Either the phenomenon will reach critical, and die out, returning everything to normal, or it will do the same, dying out, but things will come to rest wherever they come to rest. The universes will separate again while leaving parts of each other within each other."

"What's door one, part three?" Maria asked.

"The third possibility is that the universes will merge. Completely."

"Completely?" Rachel echoed. "You mean, two of everything?"

"The two universes will become one. There will be two of everything, yes, and twice as much space for it."

A ripple passed through the car, and the interior went from black to dull brown. "Okay, good news," Maria said. "This car exists in both universes. Otherwise, we'd be Spam right now."

"Where are we going?" Chris asked.

"Right now, I'm taking you home," Dad replied. "Your barn appears to be the safest place right now. Isolated enough without being completely cut off."

"But sleeping in it is like sleeping... well, like sleeping on hard wood," Diane complained. "It's terrible. And we can't just all _stay_ there. One person hiding out is one thing. Mixed company of, right now, nine people? Don't think so."

"I could get away with Tobias, maybe," Chris said, shaking his head. "But the rest of you? Forget it. No way I could convince my parents to let a bunch of girls sleep over, no offense intended."

"You'd better _not_ intend offense," Maria kidded him, glancing up in the rear-view mirror and shaking her fist at him without turning around.

"Aximili, Aximili, Tobias, and Toniya had best stick to the woods," Dad said. I knew how much that had to hurt to say. Ever since Uncle Ax had joined the Animorphs, Dad has, in his understated way, tried to bridge the gap between them, without much luck. Though Axel and I are close, Axel keeps Dad at a formal arm's length. I'd spoken to Ax about his relationship with Dad - or, at least, Dad's counterpart - and it was very different. Ax had been able to meet Dad: Axel hadn't. Dad had been able to stay on Earth, and I guess Axel can't get over the fact that Dad ran away from the war. He still doesn't understand that, I guess. Just like with Tobias and me, the major difference between Axel and Ax seems to be knowing Dad.

The sky suddenly grew darker. The moon, once just to our left, appeared directly overhead.

"Shift again," Maria said.

"We've crossed over," Chris said, shaking his head.

"Or maybe just the moon did," Diane suggested. "Nothing else seems different."

A sudden thought came to mind. I burst out giggling.

Rachel peered around Ax at me. "What's your problem?" she asked.

I continued giggling for awhile, before I could finally say what I'd thought of. This must be happening everywhere. 

"I think everyone present has also figured that out," Maria said from the front seat. "But I think you're the only one who's found that humorous."

I chuckled. I don't mean everywhere on _Earth_, Maria. I mean, _everywhere_. We're talking a whole universe - I mean, _two_ whole universes. This is happening to humans, Yeerks-"

"Oh, God," Chris moaned. "I just thought of it. _Two_ Visser Threes?"

Rachel shuddered. "God, I hope not."

That's not what I thought of, I said, though I admit that scared the hell out of me, too. One was definitely worse than enough. What I thought of was that this also has to be happening to Andalites. Obviously, the sex change thing is limited to humans, but... what if it wasn't? I mean, we can all sit here and be buds, but what if this was happening on the homeworld? 

No one else seemed to find it funny. I don't think they understood. Of course, the only ones who probably _would_ understand probably didn't find it funny.

"Traditional Andalites are known to be somewhat... bigoted," Dad said slowly. "Here, there is a strong woman's movement. At home, however, we are somewhat... behind."

What do you think it'd be like on the homeworld if what happened with the U.S. Presidents happened with high-ranking military officers? I asked the others. Do you have any thoughts on what would _happen_? 

Rachel smirked a little at that idea. "I think they'd be getting a good shot of reality."

Maria leaned back, putting her hand over the back of the front seat. Rachel slapped it. "Amen, sister," Maria laughed.

I chuckled. The two of them seemed to be getting along well. Much different from how Richard and Maria had gotten along.

I felt a squirming sensation in my wings. Startled, I looked sideways.

Something was happening to Chris's hands.

Chris! I shouted.

"What the-"

Obviously, it wasn't Chris anymore.

Maria glanced in the rear-view mirror again to look in backseat. "Aw, shit," she muttered.

The new person holding me looked up sharply. "What happened?" she asked, startled.

"Maybe Toniya should sit up here," Diane suggested. "I don't think she fits in the backseat crowd anymore."

Rachel leaned forward to look around Ax again. "Fancy meeting you here, Cassie," she said.

Suddenly the car swerved sharply toward oncoming traffic.

"Al, what the-" Diane started to shout.

"Shut up, Dee!" Maria screamed, leaning over and grabbing the wheel. "Al's _gone_!"

__

_to be continued...._


	4. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team. The next day, Tobias spotted a golden eagle turning into a blond boy. Thinking that it might be David, the traitor who nearly destroyed the Animorphs, he and Rachel tried to confront the boy - only to discover that it was Richard, Rachel's counterpart. After much bickering, the Animorphs have come to tolerate Rich.

The phenomenon which brought Jack and Rich to the others' reality has been dubbed a "Jacqueline Rip" by Ax, much to Jack's embarrassment. Although the actual effects of it have now been witnessed - that objects fade in and out of each reality - the Animorphs are not any closer to discovering why.

All they know is, it's getting faster...

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #4 - The Continuity

__

Long before....

I don't remember that time, when I was very little, when we received news of Elfangor's death. I _do_ remember several years later, though, when his friend, Arbron, who was already a great warrior, came home on leave. I barely knew him. I'd seen his communications, but I'd never met him face-to-face. He had communicated often with our family, my parents explained, after Elfangor died, because he felt responsible. Before even going to his own home, he came to ours. To explain, he said. My parents didn't let me listen. They said they'd tell me when I was older.

Later we went running together, just the two of us. Me all clumsy. Arbron like some creature from an Andalite myth, so fast and so powerful. 

It was kind of a shock to me. Until then, I guess I'd thought I was the most important person in the family. But it was hard to feel very important with Arbron around. The way my mother and father treated him, it was hard to consider him being unrelated. Whenever he was on leave, he would come visit. He always came to us first.

He never had much to say to me. He never lectured me, like other adults. He was just himself. He talked to me the same way he talked to my parents - respectfully, slightly formally. He never treated me like a younger Andalite, and that was great. After that, there was never any question in my mind what I wanted to be when I grew up: I wanted to be a warrior. I wanted to be like Arbron.

***

Prepare for return to normal space, Captain Nerefir said in thought-speak. 

I was on the bridge of our dome ship. It was an amazing moment. I had never been on the bridge before. I'd always been stuck in my quarters, or up in the dome. It was an honor to be on the battle bridge with the full warriors, the prince, and the captain himself. 

Of course, it was because I was "Arbron's little tagalong", but I didn't let that bother me. An _aristh_ like me, a warrior-cadet, wouldn't have been on the bridge otherwise.

Especially not an _aristh_ who had once run into Captain Nerefir so hard he'd fallen over and ended up bruising one of his stalk eyes. It was an accident, but still, it's just not a good idea for lowly cadets to go plowing into great heroes. 

Still, I didn't "take the _kafit_ bird on my head for granted", as the saying goes. I might be clumsy and somewhat stupid sometimes, but I'm not... well, not _completely_ stupid.

Everybody loved Arbron, so they had to tolerate me. That's the story of my life. If I live two hundred years, I'll probably still be known as "Arbron's little tagalong". I just have to live with it.

We came out of Z-space or Zero-space, a realm of white emptiness, back into normal space. Through the monitors I saw nothing but blackness dotted with stars. And there, just ahead of us, no more than a half-million miles away, was a small, mostly blue planet. 

Is that Earth? I asked Arbron. I didn't think there would be so much water. Can you get Ol' Hoof and Tail to let me go down to the planet with you? 

Aximili, shut up! Arbron said quickly. He looked slightly sick and cast a dubious glance at Captain Nerefir even as he tried not to smile. 

I guess I had been thought-speaking a little loudly. Arbron was worried that War-Prince Nerefir might have overheard. But I was sure I hadn't been that loud. I mean, I know I can slip sometimes, but I didn't really think that this time was- 

Old Hoof and Tail, eh? Captain Nerefir said. Is that what they call me? 

Arbron shot me a slightly poisonous, mostly amused look. I'm sure this _aristh_ didn't mean any disrespect. 

I think he would have liked to throw me out the nearest airlock right at that moment. Or at least shot me repeatedly with a hand-held shredder on the second-lowest setting until I lost consciousness. The second-lowest setting is much like a slap in the face. 

Slowly Nerefir turned his two main eyes toward me. He was a frighteningly old Andalite. A great warrior. A great hero. Arbron's idol. Ah, it's the ruffian. The wild brat who knocked me over. He nodded. Old Hoof and Tail, is it? Well. I rather like the name. He slowly winked one eye at Arbron. I suppose we'll have to let the ruffian live. 

... and obviously, an Andalite of my own nature.

Suddenly . . . 

Yeerks! We have a Yeerk mother ship in orbit over the planet! the warrior at the sensor station cried. 

They're launching fighters! I count twelve Yeerk Bug fighters, another warrior cried. They're on an intercept course. They'll be firing range in twelve Earth minutes. 

Captain Nerefir turned his face and his main eyes toward Arbron, while his stalk eyes kept watch on the monitors. The humor was gone from his face. Prince Arbron? It is time. Launch all fighters. 

But Arbron hadn't waited for orders. He was already halfway out the door. My tail banged into the doorway as I plowed after him. 

Get to the dome, Aximili, Arbron said.

But I want to fight! I said. I can fly a fighter as well as- 

Do not argue with me, Aximili. _Arisths_ do not go into battle. You are not a full warrior yet. Go to the dome. You belong there, _aristh_. 

I don't want to there! I said. But a warrior, even a warrior-cadet, has to follow orders. Arbron was like my brother - the closest thing I had ever had to a brother - but he was also my prince. 

I could hear the thought-speak announcements coming from the bridge: 

Yeerk Bug fighters closing fast. 

We are entering the outer-gravitational field of the planet. 

Arbron and I came to a pair of drop-shafts. Warriors were zooming down, heading for the fighter bays. I would have to go up to reach the dome. The upward drop shaft was empty. 

It made me angry. Everyone was fighting but me. When it was all over, Arbron would be even more of a big hero, and I would still be the little tagalong. The child who was sent to the dome, where children belonged. 

Arbron hesitated for just a moment before rushing on. He arched his tail forward. I reached forward with my own tail, arching it up over my back. We touched tail blades. 

You'll have your chance to fight, Aximili, he said. Very soon your fighter will fly side by side with mine. But not in this battle. You have to wait your turn, same as I did. 

Yes, my prince, I said, sounding very stiff and formal. But as he turned to enter the drop shaft, I couldn't let him go thinking I was mad at him. I said, Hey, Arbron? Go burn some slugs. 

That is the plan, kid, he said with a laugh. That is the plan. 

It was the last I saw of him. 

He disappeared down the drop shaft. I went upward to the great dome. The dome was the heart of our ship. It was a vast, round, open plain of grass and trees and running water from our home planet, all covered by a transparent dome. 

Stuck here too, tagalong? the only other _aristh_, Brederlin, sneered. I would have thought they'd let you command the ship. 

Shut up, Brederlin, I snapped. I turned away, ignoring him. I suppose he had every right to be jealous of how I was treated - I would have been, if it was he who was allowed to do what I was, sometimes. But that couldn't be changed. I couldn't help that Prince Arbron was so interested in me. It had just... happened.

I could see the blue planet above me, hanging in a black sky. It had a moon, just a dead ball of dust. But the planet looked alive. I could see white clouds swirling. Its yellow sun's light sparkled off the vast oceans. 

The planet was known to be inhabited by a reasonably intelligent - though not _terribly_ intelligent - species. We had learned a little about them in school. I recalled that they looked funny, with two legs and no tail. I was not the only one to burst out laughing when first shown a picture of one.

My main eyes were drawn to the brilliant flares of engine exhaust as our fighters lanced toward the onrushing Yeerks. 

I was far from the battle-bridge now, beyond the range of their thought-speak. I heard nothing in my head. And my ears heard only the sound of a gentle, artificial breeze ruffling the leaves of the trees. I stood on the blue-green grass and watched tiny pinpoints of light as the battle was joined above the blue planet. 

And then . . . I felt it. A tremor that rolled through my mind. A wave of coldness. . . a premonition. Like a waking nightmare. 

I turned my stalk eyes away from battle, toward the dead moon of the blue planet. And there I saw it. A black shape against the gray-white light of the moon. A shape like some twisted battle-ax. 

Blade ship... I whispered. A Visser's Blade ship! 

_What_? Brederlin cried.

Our fighters were all away. Our Dome had massive weapons, but the Blade ship was fast and maneuverable. Too fast! 

The warriors on the battle bridge had no choice. They had to separate the dome in order to be able to fight. I felt a grinding, crunching sensation as the dome was released to drift free of the main line of the ship.

Did you feel that? Brederlin cried.

We're loose! I replied sharply. 

We were silent as the dome floated free. 

Slowly, the rest of the ship rotated into sight. Without the dome it looked like a long stick, with the huge bulge of the engines on the far end, and the smaller bulge of the battle bridge in the middle. They were trying to turn to meet the Blade ship. 

Too slow. 

The Blade ship fired! 

NO! To this day, I don't know if it was Brederlin or I who screamed. Maybe it was both of us.

Dracon beams, bright as a sun, lanced through space. 

The ship fired again. Again. Again. 

An explosion of light! A silent explosion like a small sun going nova. 

The ship... my ship... blew up into its separate atoms. One huge flash of light, and a hundred Andalite warriors died. 

WHUMMPPPFF!

A shock wave hit the dome. It was translated into sound. The grass beneath my hooves slammed up at me. A terrible rattling, shaking, heaving. 

Ahhhh! Brederlin screamed. It sounded as if he was dying.

My knees buckled and I fell to the grass. Everything was spinning! Wildly, out of control! I could feel the artificial gravity weaken. The stabilizers had failed. Then, so did the artificial gravity.

The dome was falling. Falling out of orbit. 

The dome slid down the gravity well, end over end, taking Brederlin and me with it. I lost count of how many trees I smacked into, how many times I tumbled from clear dome to grassy earth to dome again. We fell down toward the blue planet. Red-hot glowing atmosphere turned the sky above me - no, below - no, beside - the sky that could not hold still to fire. Emergency engines kicked in with a big WHOOSH!, but they could only slow the descent, not stop it. Especially since they kicked in while they were _above_ the ship, and shot us faster toward the water.

The dome hurtled at shocking speed down and down through the atmosphere. Down toward the sparkling sea. 

Crrr-UUUUUSSSSHHH!

The dome hit water! Boiling, steaming water rushed over the dome. We were sinking! Sinking beneath the ocean of the blue planet. I was powerless. Terrified. 

Later, I found that I was also alone. 

After an eternity, the dome crunched heavily onto the ocean floor. Looking up, I could barely see the surface of the water a hundred feet or more over the top of the dome. 

I climbed shakily to my four hooves. My entire right side ached terribly. My left hurt even worse. My right stalk-eye refused to budge, much less focus. I was standing on a vast, open plain that was a piece of my own planet. A blue-green park, hidden deep beneath an alien sea.

Brederlin wasn't so lucky. He lay on two separate ends of the dome. I could not bury him beneath the soil; there were important components down there. In the end, I was forced to remember as much of the Death of a Comrade Ritual as I could, and jettison him. I will always feel the guilt from that. It will follow me to my own grave, which I desperately hope it will be drier.

And there I waited for weeks. I sent out thought-speak cries to Arbron. I knew he would save me... if he still lived. 

But in the end, it was not Arbron who found me. It was five of those funny-looking creatures from this planet. Five "humans", as they call themselves. 

They were the ones who told me of Arbron's last minutes of life. He had broken Andalite law and custom by giving these humans the power to morph. I was shocked, but tried to control it. I know that Arbron did nothing without truly feeling it was right. I admired him for that.

Those humans had witnessed Arbron's death. His cold-blooded murder, by the Yeerk overlord: Visser Three. 

Visser Three, who slaughtered my helpless, wounded mentor, my greatest friend. 

Visser Three, the only Yeerk to ever infest and control an Andalite body, and _keep_ it.

Visser Three, known to all Andalites as the Abomination. The only Andalite-controller.

He had killed Arbron, and I had inherited a terrible burden. Arbron had no sons, no relations of his own. His closest relation was a cousin back on the homeworld. But Arbron was like family to me. He was the closest I had come to having a brother, with Elfangor dead. By Andalite custom, I would have been required to avenge my brother's death.

Someday I would kill Visser Three. 

_It was a bit of a shock to find that Elfangor wasn't dead, as Arbron had told us. Arbron had said Elfangor died in battle. He didn't say that Elfangor had run away from that battle, to live the life of a lesser species. To raise a daughter, a girl who quickly became my _shorm_. I suppose there were reasons Elfangor stayed on Earth. Reasons I can never understand._

True, thanks to him, the Animorphs were able to pinpoint where I was. Thanks to him, I am able to learn from one with experience how to appear human and still be Andalite. Thanks to him, I have been able to accept the loyalties I feel to both peoples now.

But mostly, it is thanks to him that Toniya exists, and I can never thank him enough for that.

I don't know what_ to think of Elfangor, really...._

CHAPTER 18

Axel

One moment, Elfangor was driving his car. I was sitting between Diane and the passenger side door, while Maria sat between Elfangor and Diane. Behind me, Chris held Toniya in his lap. On the opposite side of the car from me, Rachel was doing the same to Tobias. Between Chris and Rachel sat my counterpart.

The next moment, Chris was replaced by his counterpart, as was Elfangor.

Unfortunately, Elfangor's counterpart consisted of nothing but invisibly small molecules.

This was unfortunate, not only because it meant that no one was driving the car, but also because Maria can not just _not_ drive, she has a tendency of wracking up casualties when she does.

The last time, it was trashcans.

The good news, in that respect, was that there wasn't a trashcan in sight.

The bad news was, we were on a six-lane highway going close to sixty miles an hour, and we were _not_ in the lane closest to the side.

I always try to see every side of a problem.

Unfortunately, this problem had more bad sides than good.

"Does anyone know how to drive?" Diane screamed.

"I can do it!" Maria screamed back, sliding over into Elfangor's seat. "I can drive!"

"Like hell you can!" Rachel snapped from the back seat. "I know how Marco drives, and you're just Marco in a skirt!"

"I am not!" Maria managed to steer back into our own lane.

I can drive. 

I glanced over the seat. "Toniya?"

Dad taught me on this thing. I can do it. 

"You're telling me that we've got eight kids in this car, and the only one who can drive is a hawk?!" Diane pointed out - in a rather rude scream aimed at my ear, I might add. "What are you going to steer with, your beak?"

I can morph out. No way we're going to live long with Maria at the wheel! 

"It's hard to concentrate with you guys complaining!" Maria snapped as she drove straight through a red signal light. "How do we get to Chris' from here?"

"Put the top up," Cassie, Chris' counterpart, said. She put Tobias on the floor. "Someone put the top up, so Toniya can morph human! Maria, try pulling to the side of the road."

"Signal, signal!" Diane cried. She slapped a switch next to the steering column. A light blinked on the dashboard.

"I was _going_ to!" Maria snapped. She looked over her shoulder, turning the wheel so that she started drifting left when she wished to move right.

"Maria, _stop it_!" Diane screamed. "I'll hold the wheel. You look. When it's clear, I'll steer."

"I can _do_ this!" Maria hissed.

"Maria, you have proven that you cannot," I pointed out. "What Diane suggests is logical. However, to prevent further argument, _I_ will look out. Diane, raise the roof." I rolled down my window and stuck my head out the opening. The human driving the car beside me made a rude gesture with his hand. I returned it with one hand while using the other to steady myself. Humans eyes are lame, because they only see in one direction.

"Oh my God," Cassie breathed from the back seat.

"Did Axel just give somebody the finger?" Rachel asked, sounding just as surprised.

"He fits right in, doesn't he?" Maria asked tightly.

"What finger?" my counterpart asked.

Not now, Ax! Tobias replied sharply.

The roof jerked upward from where it was folded down. It began to unfold, drawing up vertically. "Wait - isn't it illegal to drive while putting up the top?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know, I don't care," Maria replied. "Damn it, Ax-man, is it clear yet?"

"Wait," I replied. "Okay, it's safe. Quickly!"

The wheels of the car screeched as Maria swerved into the right lane. She hit the signal switch again, pulling over fully. All of us jerked forward as she stepped far too hard on the brake.

"Maria, you're the reason they make seat belts!" Diane snapped.

"We're alive, aren't we?" Maria retorted, turning on the high beams in an attempt to find the emergency lights. "The car's still whole, isn't it?"

"It won't be if you leave the high beams on," Diane replied sharply. She turned off the headlights, then reached under the steering column, where the emergency lights' switch was located. She turned the key in the ignition, putting it on the setting which allows the lights to work but the engine to be off.

"Okay, put Tonni in the front," Rachel said.

"Sorry about this," Cassie told Toniya as she raised her above the front seat.

No problem. I turned around in my seat to carefully take Toniya from Cassie. I passed her to Diane, who passed her to Maria, who squeezed over farther to the right and placed Toniya on the seat. "This isn't too insane," Maria muttered. "We're on the side of the open road, going to be driven out to the country by a hawk turning into a girl who isn't any more old-enough-to-drive than I am."

"She _can_ drive," Rachel pointed out.

"Mere details," Maria retorted.

Meanwhile, Toniya began to morph into her human body. Her size came first - or, should I say, her legs' size. Her legs shot downward, her talons shoving against the pedals.

"Aren't you glad I turned off the ignition?" Diane asked everyone smugly.

"Of course we are," Maria mumbled.

Toniya's talons shrunk into human feet, while as the rest of her finally began to change. Her wings grew substantially faster, however: Maria soon had a mouthful of feathers. "'onyee, st'ppit!" she whined, pushing at Toniya's suddenly six-foot long wing.

You think I want your dirty mouth all over my wing? Toniya grumbled in reply. I'm not Chris, for crying out loud! I can't get my butt to do one morph and my non-existent fingers to do another while my head does a third! I'm just as good as you are at this, Maria, which means what happens, happens, and everybody just shut _up_ already! 

"What's got your tailfeathers in a knot?" Diane asked.

Maria smirked. "Probably the fact that her fat human butt is sitting on them."

Shut up, Toniya snapped. Bad enough that 'fat human butt' ripped them all out without you making jibes about it. 

The rest of us burst out laughing. It was nervous laughter, of course. What we were doing was dangerous - not to mention the fact that Elfangor might reappear at any time. I did not want to think what would happen to Toniya if her father suddenly appeared on top of her. 

Toniya's hands appeared at the end of her wings. She still couldn't hold the steering wheel, because her arms were too long, and they bent in the wrong direction. Then they bent in the correct direction, but remained too long. Her legs lost their scaly quality. Her wings began losing their feathers, baring a pair of six-foot long human arms. They began to shrink even as Toniya reached her full height.

Flashing lights pulled up behind us.

"Gah!" Maria shrieked. She turned over to look over the front seat. "We're about to get checked out!"

"Hurry it _up_, Tonni!" Diane hissed.

Do you think I _haven't_ been hurrying? Toniya demanded.

"Nobody panic," Cassie suggested.

"Shut up," Diane told her.

It'd been fine if my head would change! Toniya complained. Her arms were still a little long, but otherwise, she was correct: her head remained hawk-like, with a huge gray beak and an even bigger black crest.

"Maybe we can bluff our way through this," Diane said hurriedly. "Tonni, can you still see?"

Yeah, so? 

"Stop morphing," Maria said, "start the engine, and figure it out for yourself."

Oh, shit. 

"She figured it out," Diane smirked.

"That police officer could be a Controller!" Rachel snapped. She glanced sideways, out her window. We could get serious trouble for this! she snapped in thought-speak. Just drive! 

No, Tobias said. It might work. 

It had better! Toniya snapped. And it had better work _before_ they take Dad's license number! 

The officer knocked on the window next to Toniya with his knuckle. "Everything all right in there?" he asked.

Everyone buckled? Toniya asked.

"Let's do it!" Rachel said. I glanced in the rear-view mirror. She was grinning.

Were it not for Cassie's petrified expression, I would have simply assumed this to appeal to a human female's sense of adventure, considering the examples of human females I am constantly exposed to. Perhaps Cassie lacked such a sense. Tobias, my counterpart, and I were showing some very natural Andalite skepticism.

Here we go! Toniya replied. She rolled down her tinted window and looked the officer straight in the eye - and blinked.

"Skeeeeeeeeeer yeeea, oiiiiiiaaaaar!" she screeched.

The officer looked at her for a long moment.

A moment that ended with the officer screaming.

_Floor it_! Tobias, Rachel, Diane, and Maria screamed all at once.

Toniya slammed her foot on the gas pedal. The wheels squealed as the car shot forward. She swerved smoothly into traffic. It's actually easier to drive this way, she said, rolling up her window. Maria, care to steer while I finish up? You _can_ steer, can't you? 

"Haven't I proved myself there?" Maria retorted, taking the wheel.

Good, because I'm not feeling well. 

"What's wrong?" Diane demanded. "That was awesome!"

Did anyone else feel any sort of bump? 

"Maybe a little," Rachel replied. "Why?"

I think I ran over his toes. 

"What did you say to the police officer, Toniya?" I asked.

She sighed as the last of her beak became her nose and mouth. "Now that I have a mouth meant to say it," she replied, "I won't."

"Why not?" my counterpart asked, as curious as I was about the matter.

"Because then I'd have to wash my mouth out with soap."

"I do not understand," my counterpart said.

"I don't think we're meant to," I assured him.

CHAPTER 19

Ax

Toniya, by my understanding, was a far better driver than Maria. Of course, as I was hardly exposed to Maria's driving - and what I had seen, though lacking finesse, was adequate - I could only trust the babble of the humans.

"Maria, you are the reason they make seat belts," Diane said for the seventh time. "I swear, if you _ever_ get behind the wheel of _anything_ again, somebody _else_ better have the keys!"

"From now on, Maria is not allowed to be the one sitting next to the driver," Toniya suggested. She slowed to make a right turn. "I'm sorry, Maria, but I can tell you, video games are _nothing_ compared to the real thing."

"For one, you're _not_ supposed to hit anything," Rachel said.

"For another, we're alive. Isn't that what matters?" Cassie asked.

"I can't believe I ran over his toes," Toniya moaned. Like Diane, she seemed prone to repeating the same thing. I suppose it is a human fear reaction, to repeat a word or phrase in order to prove to yourself that you are alive.

As my counterpart and I have agreed, humans are incredibly illogical. We had a very interesting conversation on the topic. Of course, it would have been even more interesting if he hadn't taken it as a joke. It seems there can be drastic differences, even in Andalite counterparts. Perhaps not as drastic as those in human ones, I suppose, but still, quite noticeable and sometimes very annoying.

Toniya drove the car to Cassie's driveway and stopped. "I'm going to try to drop this at home," she said. "Who wants to be back-up?"

An argument ensued, one which ended with Diane and Rachel dragging Maria out of the car and Diane and my counterpart leaving with Toniya.

Maria muttered various complaints to herself as we walked down the driveway.

"Oh, stop it," Rachel interrupted her. "If you drove much longer we'd've all been dead."

"I'm _not_ Marco," Maria said. "_I_ don't hate trashcans."

So you hit mailboxes instead? Tobias teased her. He was perched on Rachel's arm.

"No..." Maria's face turned slightly red. "...I hit trashcans."

We walked into the barn. It was somewhat different from Cassie's: it was more neatly organized, but more crowded as well. The cages were organized differently. Where there were two turkeys in Cassie's barn, there were two swans.

There were also further differences with animals. Differences that extended much farther than simple changes in what animal was placed where.

"What is _this_?" Cassie exclaimed, bending down to look into a cage that had held a squirrel in our own universe. Instead it was a creature of about the same size, but more maroonish in color than gray. Its tail was three feet long, a thick brush of wiry fur. It had long, sharp ears, like an odd mix of a cat's pair of ears and the ears of a rabbit. It had a rat-like snout and sharp golden eyes. One of its thin forelegs was in a cast. It had five short fingers and a very workable thumb per paw. "How cute!"

"Careful - skirls have a very painful bite," Maria said.

"I mentioned the problem between squirrels and skirls," Rachel said. "They showed me around here. They've got some cool animals that we don't." She pointed to a cage which, in Cassie' barn, had held a wolf. "That's a wolfbane cub."

We looked in the cage. The creature was about the size of a full-grown wolf, and had a similar canine appearance and coloring.

"This is a _cub_?" Cassie whispered, awed.

"That's a runt," Maria snorted, looking at Cassie in a peculiar way. "A pipsqueak. What, you have no big dogs where you're from?"

"Saint Bernards aren't big?" Rachel asked.

Maria laughed. "_Those_? _Big_?" She continued laughing for some time.

Rachel and Cassie traded what I believe were worried glances.

I guess if cats can get big, why can't dogs? Tobias asked. Why not birds? 

"What's the biggest bird here?" Cassie asked.

"Here in the barn? I haven't noticed. In this Earth? Emu."

"Smaller than the ostrich," Cassie said. "Similar, but smaller."

That's not fair, Tobias said, sounding offended. I believe he meant it in jest. Dogs get to be bigger, but not birds? Hmph! 

"Ostrich?" Maria echoed. She frowned. "Since when was an ostrich a bird?"

"This is giving me a headache," Rachel moaned, rubbing her forehead.

"I admit that it drains my patience as well," I said. "We have a larger problem than differences in animal species."

Maria sighed. "Of all things in heaven and hell, why did _Andalites_ have to remain the same?" She winked one eye at me, to show that she didn't mean offense.

I was not offended. I knew she was wrong.

My counterpart and I... the Elfangor I remembered, and this Elfangor here... we were different from each other. Far different.

Perhaps we were not different in the same way as the humans, but, in many ways, we had changed even more.

CHAPTER 20

Ax

My counterpart and I ran together through the woods.

It felt odd, having someone run beside me after all this time. Stranger, even, that it should be myself. A different version of myself, perhaps, but, still, myself.

That, perhaps, was what was most discomforting about this situation. There were two of me. Andalites believe every person, every individual, to be utterly unique. No two grains of sand are the same; neither are people.

True, there were definite differences in my counterpart and I. Our senses of humor, for example.

But the fact still remained that we were, in fact, the same person. It was a fact that could not be changed, or refuted. The Andalite that ran beside me was myself. I was alone with myself, and yet I was not alone, because I was there.

It was enough to talk oneself in circles.

You're giving me a headache, my counterpart said.

I looked at him with one stalkeye, a little startled. We hadn't spoken a word since leaving the others in Chris' barn. While there, the skirl had changed into its squirrel counterpart. Maria had been unable to stop laughing at it, not even to explain why she found it so humorous. Toniya found no such mirth in the creature. Diane merely gave it a skeptical look before sitting by the wolfbane cub.

How so? I asked.

He slowed to a stop, placing a hand on an oak tree. I keep thinking myself in circles, he replied. I don't know what to think of you. Are you me, or are you not? Are you simply another person named Aximili, or are you me? Are you me? he asked me directly. Do you think I am you? 

I considered it. I... I do not believe so, I said slowly, because I was uncertain. We seem to be different people... 

... but we're not, he finished. You see? Our personalities differ, but within we are the same. We follow each others thoughts. If we morphed... our relations proved that even morphs are paralleled. There is no escaping our connection, Aximili. We _are_ the same person. He smiled slightly. We're unique, just like everyone else, he added in a wry voice.

Indeed, I agreed grimly.

He looked upward, toward the stars, his smile fading. This problem eludes me completely, he said. I wish we had paid more attention that day, don't you? 

Yes. 

Of course you do. You don't have to vocalize your agreement with everything I say, Aximili. It is what you would be saying if I were not saying it, isn't it? 

I was about to reply, but decided against it. I didn't feel like iring my counterpart. There was no point in getting on my own nerves.

He sighed. Something about it seems just out of reach, he said, his voice softer, more urgent. Some part that we are missing. 

It is like mist that should be ice, I agreed. We should be able to grasp it, but it isn't solid. 

Mist... His eyes widened. Mist! 

He'd thought of something! What is it? 

Mist, he said once more, then groaned. It slipped away, he muttered. I almost had it. Something... something about mist. Or fog. 

I concentrated as hard as I could. Mist, vapor, fog... nothing. Nothing was coming to mind. Anything else? I urged him. He had to remember what it was that had crossed his mind!

Only... fog, he replied, disgusted with himself. Something about fog. At first the thought seemed silly, then suddenly made sense. Then it was gone, before I firmly had it. 

We've proven that Sario Rips may be closed by avoiding, or negating, what occurred first, I said.

I know, he replied. First with our prince's death, then by repeating the radioactive explosion. But what is it that we'd have to negate? What is the bridge between the worlds? What is the same in both? 

I sighed, scoffing at the ground. He did the same.

It's going to be foggy tonight, he muttered quietly. It'll be hard to see anything. 

I didn't reply. He was right. We had to figure out what linked the two universes. What was unchanged? The universe was changing in bits and pieces. What bits _weren't_ changed?

The solar system seemed to be intact - after all, there had been no change in gravitational pull or weather, only the time differential.

Around us, the grass shifted without a wind as individual blades switched places.

Maria? 

I looked at my counterpart. What about Maria? 

She and... no. He shook his head slightly. Nevermind. I was just trying to figure out what hadn't changed. Maria and Marco do not seem to have ever switched places. But switching is all relative. There's no telling who is in what universe anymore. Too many changes are happening at once. 

Perhaps we are thinking too broad-range, I said. Perhaps we should focus smaller. There is a human saying - 'the best place to hide something is in plain sight'. 

Yes, I know, he replied harshly. I know! I know what you know, Aximili. I just wish I knew what you _didn't_! 

So don't I, I agreed. It would make things simpler, wouldn't it? 

He chuckled in reply. I seem to be rubbing off on you, he said, smiling slightly. Your sarcasm is getting better. 

Each person is their best role model, I replied.

We shared a slight, bitter smile.

The smile faded at the same time.

If we focus small... I began.

... if we focus on Earth,... he continued.

... if we considered the one thing that is not different ... 

... if we're right ... 

It was my turn to speak. ... then it's us, I finished.

Good theory, he said. Better than none. 

But what are we supposed to do, if we are the focal point? 

I'm just as clueless as myself, he replied bitterly.

As am I, I said, my own voice just as bitter.

Rotten theory. 

Worse than none at all. 

Rather selfish, as well. 

Very immature of us. 

We're acting like a pair of silly _aristh_s. 

A silly pair of clueless _aristh_s. 

This is also very immature. 

What is? 

Attempting to get the last word. 

I am doing no such thing. 

Yes I am. 

Perhaps _you_ are. _I'm_ not. 

You are me. Therefore, if _I_ am, _you_ are. 

I tried to come up with an answer to that, but found myself unable to.

My counterpart smiled. Gotcha, he said.

CHAPTER 21

Axel

"G'morning, Jack."

"Morning, Maria. Morning, Cassie."

"Good morning, everybody."

"Does anyone know what barn this is?"

"I'll go check."

"Cassie, what are you going to do if it _isn't_ your barn?"

"Since when were _you_ awake, Rich?"

"I've been awake for two hours already. Good morning to you too, Maria."

Good morning, everyone. 

"Hey, Tonni. Where's Tobias?"

He's still looking for breakfast. 

"Lucky him. I'm starving."

Would you like a nice juicy rat, Rachel? 

"That's okay. I'll pass."

"Oh, God, I feel like my back has cracked in two."

"Be glad it hasn't."

"_I'm_ glad it hasn't. I'm not sure _it_'s glad, though."

"I think we have orders for eggs, sausage, and aspirin for everybody."

"Hey, who's that?"

"Maria left. Now Mario's here."

"_Mario_?"

"Diane, this is Marco."

"Sorry."

"What's the headcount?"

I climbed carefully up into the hayloft. It was quite crowded.

On one side, Jack, Diane, Cassie, and Marco were sitting down. On the other, Rich was sitting on a bale of hay. Tonni was behind me, in the rafters.

"Good morning," Cassie said, addressing me.

"It is morning," I agreed, "but I would assume there was very little good about it, from the complaints I have overheard."

"The headcount isn't good," Diane said. "We have Jack, Rich, Tonni, Cassie, Marco, Axel, and me. Tobias is supposedly out hunting, Jake, Al, Chris, and Ax are unaccounted for, and Maria and Rachel just disappeared."

"So half of us are here," Marco said. "And half is either unaccounted for or enjoying life in the other universe."

"This is really giving me a headache," Rich muttered. "We figure out a time frame, so what? How can we figure out the difference now if everyone just pops in and out?"

"Marco, what time was it when you crossed to here?" I asked.

He shrugged a little. "The only difference I noticed was that I was suddenly on the girl's side of the barn. Elfangor suggested we all stick to one spot unless anything earth shattering comes up. It's safer to just stick to one spot - especially one far from the road."

"Sounds like our universe caught up," Jack said.

"Indeed," I agreed. "If there is no notable change, then we have reached a one-to-one scenario."

"What's that?" Cassie asked.

I shrugged slightly. "I don't know," I replied, embarrassed. "I remember my teacher mentioning it, but I don't remember what it means."

"I remember. Sort of."

Jack crawled to the ladder to give my counterpart some help. He was more awkward on two legs than I; getting his limbs to work together in order to climb the ladder must have been difficult. I could tell that he was glad for the assistance. "I do not remember what this form of anomaly is called," he said, sitting down between Jack and Marco. Deciding that I no longer wanted to be the only one standing, I sat beside Cassie. Toniya flew over to stand beside me, then folded her legs beneath herself. Only Rich remained apart from us. "It is related to a Sario Rip, but I did not understand it."

"A singularity?" I suggested cautiously. Was that the word he was looking for?

"Yes! A temporal singularity," my counterpart agreed. "A rip in space-time through which objects can pass. Usually they are no larger than the size of a baseball. Andalite scientists created some in laboratories."

"You speak of skimming space," I said, disturbed.

"_Skimming_ space?" Marco echoed. "Like skim milk?"

"More like skipping a flat rock on water," my counterpart said. "S-space technology is merely theory for now."

"A theory which scientists hope to use in order to maximize efficiency with travel," I said. "According to theory, it is possible to get from Z-space to another plane of existence - the surface of the water, to use the same metaphor. It would be possible to separate a vessel from space-time completely, and 'surf' over it."

"Instantaneous travel," my counterpart said. "The ability to get from one portion of space to another instantly, by completely leaving time-space."

"You lost me," Rich said, shaking his head.

"Imagine that space-time is a lake," I said. "Imagine also that a ship is a stone, the flat side of the stone is S-space technology, and Z-space is speed. Now, the theory is that Z-space engines could send a ship into Z-space - to use the metaphor, throw the stone. Activating S-space technology would be like assuring the flat side of the stone collides with the water of the lake - that is, time-space."

"The problem is ironic," my counterpart said.

"Ironic?" Jack echoed. "How?"

"S-space technology remains limited to teleportation within a five-foot space," I said, "because timing is a critical factor."

"Timing?" Cassie echoed. "I thought you said time had nothing to do with it."

"It is not a matter of true time," my counterpart explained. "No matter when you enter S-space, when you leave, it will be the exact time you left. However, in theory, those on board the vessel would still be affected by virtual time - that time would still seem to pass by."

"Just because you've thrown the stone," I said, "doesn't mean the water doesn't move. There is a rotation to the stone. That rotation is virtual time, just as, if a space station spins fast enough, it creates its own virtual gravity."

"So what's this got to do with everything?" Rich demanded impatiently.

"I failed S-space scenarios," my counterpart said, addressing me.

"As did I," I admitted, "and they did not teach it when Elfangor went to school."

"_Focus_, Axies," Diane snapped.

"S-space scenarios involved virtual time, which is measured in statistical deviations," my counterpart said.

Virtual time, Toniya translated, is measured against real time. It's not measured in minutes or hours - it's measured by how much faster or slower it is than real time. Then, as an afterthought, she added, They taught virtual-space, but not anything about S-space. 

"So what's that mean?" Marco asked. "One of our universes isn't real?"

Both my counterpart and I shook our heads. We shared a glance. You want to say it? I asked him.

I do not look forward to it. 

Fine, then. I sighed. "What we mean to say is that the S-space barrier between our universes is dying."

"In theory," my counterpart added.

The humans were silent. Then Marco swiped his hand over his head. "Whoosh," he said.

"Whoosh?" my counterpart echoed.

"Whoosh," Rich agreed. "Totally over our heads."

Jack frowned. "What you're saying," she said slowly, "is that one of our universes is like the surface of a lake, and the other is the ground _underneath_ the lake, and the lake is drying up?"

"Could we kill the metaphors and just use English?" Marco pleaded.

"We theorize that S-space separated our universes," I said. "S-space is limited to a five-foot area in tests because objects sent through tended to change. A tame _kafit_ bird came back with six wings and without training. A _lewak_ branch returned a _leedra_ root. The changes occurred one in six experiments."

My counterpart looked at me oddly. _Kafit_ birds have six wings. 

Eight, I corrected him.

"So they'd get the counterpart when they were in between seconds?" Cassie asked.

"In our universe," my counterpart said, "the changes occurred five of six experiments."  
"That's because you don't understand S-space," a voice called up from below.

Jack and Cassie both hurried to look down. "Who's that?" Jack hissed between her teeth.

Cassie smiled. "It's okay. It's Erek."

"He's a friend," Jake agreed.

CHAPTER 22

Ax

It was a double relief to have Prince Jake replace Rachel's counterpart.

"Why'd Jake replace Rich?" Marco asked, after introductions were made and what we had figured out had been discussed. Various changes had occurred, but suddenly we had the same people that we had when we first introduced each other. There had been an awkward silence when a boy Marco introduced as Gregory appeared for a few moments. Erek began to speak the moment Gregory was replaced by Rachel.

"Jake can replace Rich because the Jacqueline Rip has gotten extremely out-of-hand," he said grimly. He unzipped the bookbag he had brought with him. Taking out a brown paper bag, he threw it to Marco, who caught it.

"What's this?" Marco asked. He opened the bag - and his mouth fell open. "Erek, I love you, man, have I ever told you that?" he asked, grinning. He pulled a bagel out of the bag. "I love anybody who brings me breakfast."

Erek finished handing each of us a bag before speaking again. By that time, Maria had reappeared. "One other thing before I explain," Erek said. "Jake, Marco, your duplicates - may I see you for a moment?"

The five of them stood apart for a moment as Erek spoke to them, quickly and quietly. Finally, he held out his left hand. First Prince Jake shook his hand, jumping slightly as he did so. Then Jack, followed by Maria and Marco, did the same. Maria and Marco both looked at their hands suspiciously as they rejoined the rest of us. "That stung," Maria muttered as she sat down.

Jack sat down beside her. "Our friend is going to determine exactly how different we are while explaining my Rip," she said.

Erek sat beside me. Prince Jake and Marco sat between Cassie and Maria. The oblong circle was complete, because Diane and my counterpart sat between me and Maria. No one commented on Toniya's disappearance. "The Pemalites - the creators of the Chee - dabbled in S-space," Erek began. "They realized that, unlike real space, S-space and zero-space are not contained in one place. Your lake metaphor is a good idea, but not accurate." He smiled slightly. "S-space," he said, "is like the slices of bread in an infinite sandwich."

"You understand that you would be dead right now if you hadn't brought food," Maria pointed out, taking a bite out of her bagel.

Erek chuckled before continuing. "S-space is surrounded by Z-space, which separates it from real space. It can also be said that S-space surrounds Z-space, which surrounds normal space. It's like a sandwich with S-space being the bread, real space being the turkey, and Z-space making up two slices of lettuce on either side of the turkey. Whichever way you want to put it, that is what a universe looks like.

"Reality, per se, is determined by which universe you are in. We're not talking about a sandwich that goes up and down - it goes left, right, diagonal, in every direction, to infinity."

"My kind of sandwich," Marco said, ginning.

"But, always, real space is surrounded by Zero-space which is surrounded by S-space which is surrounded by various sections of Zero-space which surround the same amount of real spaces... you get the idea. Because it's always on the outside, so to speak, the Pemalites called it surrounding space - S-space, for short. S-space acts as a buffer between universes, keeping them apart. Spacial anomalies tear through the S-space, using it to create a boomerang effect - it slings an object out of space-time and back into it without being effected by real-time."

"Where does virtual time come in?" Jack asked.

"It isn't important," Erek assured us. "What's important is that Andalite haven't been entering S-space - they've been tunneling _through_ it." He looked at my counterpart and myself. "How did you keep track of what you sent 'into' S-space?"

"Molecular code," my counterpart replied. I was glad he had known; I hadn't.

Erek nodded. "Doomed to failure," he said bluntly. "As Jake, Jack, Marco, and Maria prove, counterparts are molecularly identical, right down to their genetic codes."

"That's impossible!" Maria cried.

"No way," Marco agreed. "How can all our chromosomes be the same?"

"Humans have forty-six chromosomes to determine genetic code," Erek said, sounding vaguely bored.

"Only forty-six?" my counterpart echoed.

"Let him talk," Jack said.

"Forgive me," he apologized.

Erek nodded slightly. "The two chromosomes that determine sex are known as 'x' and 'y' chromosomes. Two 'x' chromosomes make humans one sex, one 'x' and one 'y' make them another."

"Stop with the first year biology lesson and speak in English, _please_?" Maria pleaded.

"You and Marco, and Jack and Jake, are exactly the same," Erek said. "Right down to the fact that all four of you have one 'x' chromosome and one 'y' chromosome."

There was another long silence, before Jack finally spoke. "How is that possible?" she asked quietly.

"It's possible, because the genetic information on the 'x' and 'y' chromosomes are different. The molecules, though the same, are organized differently."

"So humans aren't unique where you're from, huh?" Maria asked Marco.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in return.

"Where we're from," Jack began, "only humans a-"

"-go crazy," Rich finished, as he appeared in Jack's place.

"I'd believe that," Marco quipped.

"Humans are unique because we're one of only two animals in which two 'x' chromosomes makes a male and an 'x' and a 'y' chromosome makes a female," Maria finished explaining. "It only happens in humans and chimpanzees."

"Not here," Jake said. "Here, we're just like everything else."

"So now we know why we have a Luke-and-Leia thing going on here..." Marco said.

"Who?" Rich asked.

A look of complete shock came over Marco's face. "You don't have _Star Wars_?" he exclaimed.

"_Oh_, yeah!" Maria said, nodding. "I read that series. It was kind of cool. It'd probably make a cool set of movies."

Prince Jake gripped Marco's arm. He was smiling slightly. "Marco, easy. Take deep breaths. It's okay."

"They don't have _Star Wars_, Jake," Marco said, her voice quiet and shaking. "No wonder everything's so different there. They don't have _Star Wars_."

Maria crossed her arms, her expression appearing pained. "You're totally cool about me," she grumbled, "but you're freaking over nine stupid movies?"

"Four awesome movies," Prince Jake replied. "And don't feel jealous - Marco had already done plenty of freaking about you long before he met you."

Marco rolled his eyes. I realized then that he had been joking again.

Erek cleared his throat. "Your conclusion seems sound," he said, returning to our primary subject. "It appears as if the stream of S-space between our universes is breaking down. The one-to-one ratio suggests that it has worn out completely in at least one area. That's why we're moving in the same time frame."

"How do we _stop_ this, Erek?" Prince Jake asked.

Erek sighed softly. "We're trying to locate the point of contact," he said. "It's what allows the instantaneous transferal. What we assume," he explained, "is that there has always been a hole in the S-space between our universes, allowing slight incongruencies to occur."

"What sort of 'incongruencies'?" I asked.

Erek shrugged. "Anybody ever morph some animal they didn't acquire? Did anyone ever use thought-speak out of morph?"

"We can do that anyway," Rich said.

"I can't think of anything like that," Marco said. Prince Jake shrugged slightly.

"We think something happened that started to make the hole get both bigger, and deeper. More noticeable. More dangerous."

"A tumor," Maria said.

"Yes," he agreed. "The Jacqueline Rip is truly a tumor in S-space which is allowing our universes to drain into one another. That leaves three possibilities."

"Not the three doors again," Diane grumbled.

"The least likely is that the hole will close on itself. Since we think it's always been there, we doubt it will ever do that. We believe it will either continue to grow, or simply stop. If it continues, our universes are going to merge completely. If it does not, the universes will reach an equilibrium."

What's that supposed to mean? Tobias asked. He had appeared on the rafters. I assume someone had explained what he had missed in private thought-speak.

"It means that the jumping back and forth will stop," Erek replied, "but only when half of each universe is on each side of the hole."

We were quiet as we assimilated this. While we were quiet, Jake appeared in Erek's place while Erek himself disappeared, Tobias disappeared, Maria abruptly moved from sitting in the hayloft to sitting where Tobias had been on the rafters, Rich and I traded positions without moving our legs at all, and Diane was replaced by a rat.

The rat looked, wild-eyed, at each of us, one at a time.

What the _fuck_ is going on here? it shrieked.

CHAPTER 23

Axel

It took several lunges, four bleeding fingers, and two pairs of people trading universes before Cassie finally managed to snag the rat's tail, then grip it by the scruff of the neck. "Sorry," she whispered softly.

Get the hell off of me! the rat screamed. Get off of me, you witch! You monster! You bitch! Get off me! Get off! Let me go! 

Diane abruptly replaced Maria. She looked at the rat, startled. "Who the hell is that?" she demanded.

"He is you," my counterpart replied coldly.

Diane's eyes widened, and she stared at the rat again. "Th... that's David?"

The rat twisted in Cassie's grip, looking at Diane - and abruptly stopped struggling. Who are you? he asked, sounding dazed.

Diane's chin started to wobble. She took a shaky step backwards. "They did it," she whispered in an unsteady voice. "They really did it." Tears stung at her eyes. "Oh God, oh God, that's what you would have done to me." Her green eyes turned on Rich, hatred blazing like flame. "That's what you wanted to do to me?!" she demanded, her voice cracking. "You wanted to make me a _rat_?!" Rich didn't say anything. Diane sat down on a bale of hay quite suddenly. She covered her face with her hands. "A rat," she mumbled into her hands. "A rat. A rat."

Again, the repetition. Humans are odd creatures. Very different from Andalites. When something upsets me, I try to put it out of my mind: I don't repeat it, over and over. Also, when I'm upset, I seek solitude to sort out the exact reason I feel that way. Humans seek the company of others. They often seek physical contact. Andalites, although just as social as human beings, appreciate more personal space.

Still, I have been among humans long enough to understand. While Jake and Marco attempted to get a cage, I sat beside Diane and put my arm around her shoulders, and simply remained quiet. This gesture has a comforting effect on humans. It is shown on many of the television shows I watch in my scoop.

There was a loud crash below. My counterpart looked over the edge of the hayloft. "Rachel replaced Marco," he reported. "I do not believe that she had been on the ladder, however. Her landing was softened by the fact that she fell on top of Prince Jake."

In spite of herself, Diane giggled. She took her hands off her face and sat up a little straighter. She glanced uncomfortably at me. "Get away from me, freak," she muttered. I stood and moved away from her. Diane is extremely independent: she no longer means any malice by calling me that derogative. I believe she continues to use it from sheer habit. I am aware that I make her somewhat uncomfortable: she has not had the same amount of exposure to life with another intelligent species as the others have. She has yet to adjust.

She glared at Rich again, but her scowl did not break in order to say anything further. His own frown was aimed at the floor. Then it disappeared as he was replaced by Toniya. This is getting seriously annoying, she complained.

"Well, we know we're stuck until the Chee find where the hole is," Jake said, placing a small cage on the hayloft floor, in order to make the rest of his climb up the ladder easier. He opened the door. "Come on, Cassie."

The rat - David - took one look at the cage and started to squirm again. No! he screamed. No! No! Don't put me in there! Please! He twisted to look at Diane again. Please! Don't let them do it! Stop them! Help me! 

Diane stared at him. "I don't know you," she muttered. "Maybe I did, but I don't now." She bowed her head and closed her eyes. "I don't like what I was," she murmured under her breath.

NO! David yelled, but he was helpless. He flailed his legs uselessly as Cassie lowered him into the cage. She dropped him when his feet were about two inches from the bottom of the cage, and jerked her hand out of the way as Jake slammed the door shut. No! Don't do this! Let me out! 

"Shut up," Rachel snapped, climbing back into the hayloft.

"It does seem kind of cruel," Diane murmured. "I mean, putting him in two cages."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rachel demanded.

"Nothing, to you," Diane replied tonelessly.

Rachel was about to rant when she was replaced by Elfangor.

"I think we all need some air," Jake said, sighing. "I know I do."

"I _am_ hungry," I said. "Aren't you, Aximili?"

He nodded slightly. "I would enjoy running. I did not sleep well last night."

"Neither did I," I agreed. "It is difficult to sleep when the trees move around you."

It wasn't long before my counterpart and I were outside once more, running through the woods in our own bodies. We were moving too fast to eat; we were simply glad to be back in our own bodies and able to run - _truly_ run - again.

We were also glad that we did not have to listen to David plead, beg, and threaten anymore. We were far, far outside his thought-speak range.

Above us, Tobias and Toniya flew. It was nice to have the four of us together. It felt somewhat like a family reunion.

So it isn't about us after all, I kidded my counterpart.

It was a silly notion to begin with, he said. A childish idea created by minds desperate for logic in a problem of complete chaos. 

Not complete, I corrected him. Just a good percentage. 

The amount of this that is logical is negligible, he pointed out.

True, I agreed. I laughed. Still, it seemed like a good idea at the time, didn't it? 

At one point, it made sense to humans that their world should be flat, and that the universe should rotate around their world. 

I laughed. Point taken. I stumbled on a tree root I hadn't seen, but continued on. Isn't it strange, though? 

This entire situation could be described as 'strange', he pointed out. What part of it are you referring to? 

Not your arrogance, I hinted. He glanced at me with one stalk eye, then looked away again. The part I refer to is that we seem to remain in one place and the rest of this seems to go on without us. 

That is the same selfish mindset we dismissed, he scoffed. I thought we agreed that this does not involve us anymore than it involves everyone else. 

Don't tell me it has escaped you, I chided him. We watch as others disappear one at a time, or get switched, or whatever may occur. But you have to have noticed that it hasn't occurred to either of us. We watch others disappear, but have we? If we had, wouldn't more people change at once? I doubt that the entire universes have been trading places, leaving only one person untouched. It seems more logical that, for some odd reason, we are not moving. That we are stable. 

An interesting notion, he admitted, but quite pointless at the same time. The changes around us are completely at random. It is pure lottery. We simply haven't been affected recently. 

The only time we seem to have been affected - truly affected - is that first time, I pointed out. First we switched places, then I returned to my universe. Beyond that, everything seems to occur without us. The others come and go, but doesn't it strike you as odd that we remain here? That we should remain together while they come and go around us? 

You would make a good politician, he said coldly. You seem to enjoy speaking in circles. 

Doesn't it bother you? I demanded.

Yes, of course it bothers me, he replied just as sharply. As you yourself pointed out, we are one in the same. What bothers you bothers me just as much. But, unlike you, I seem able to dismiss coincidence. 

I do not believe in coincidence. 

That is your choice. He sped up to outdistance me. I was rather upset with him as well; he was me. Shouldn't he understand? I slowed down.

Abruptly, a tree appeared directly in front of my counterpart. There was no way for him to stop to avoid it; it appeared a foot in front of him. By the time he attempted to react he ran smack into the thing and tumbled over, hooves flailing at the air as he tried to get his bearings.

Ax-man, you okay? Tobias called down, swooping to land in the tree that had cruelly appeared in front of my counterpart. Toniya landed in a branch slightly lower than Tobias's.

I am only minorly injured, he replied stiffly, trying to hide his embarrassment. He tried to get his feet under him, but he was having difficulty, because he was literally lying on his tail.

I could imagine how painful that had to be; he was straining the tendons in his lower tail to be in that position. I hurried forward to duck down and offer him my hand. Don't try to salvage your pride, I told him privately. There was no way to avoid it. Just let me help you up; your tail must be screaming in pain. 

It would be if it had the ability, he admitted, his voice sounding strained. He grabbed my wrist with his hand.

Simultaneously, we both screamed, as... as I don't know what happened. Tobias's and Toniya's screams of surprise and horror were mixed in as well, but I couldn't understand what they said. I was too busy screaming as it felt like I was torn from limb from limb, from eyestalk to tailblade.

CHAPTER 24

Ax

When I opened my eyes, I could see nothing of substance.

Around us, fog that seemed a peculiar mix of green and purple seemed to make up the entirety of existence.

Us?

Yes, us. My counterpart and I. We were both on our feet, my hand still grasping his wrist, but now it was awkward, because when I had taken hold of his wrist, I had been on my side. Now, with both of us standing up, both our arms were twisted at awkward angles. I let go of his wrist. He looked at me, seeming upset, then rolled his shoulder to make his arm more comfortable. I have missed something, he said. Have you also missed it? 

I have no idea what I have missed, I admitted, but I have a strong feeling that it was very important. 

As do I. 

Within our heads, we heard a quiet laugh. To tell the truth, a familiar voice said, you have missed nothing at all. 

Simultaneously, we turned our stalk eyes toward where the sound seemed to come from - how it seemed to come from a specific direction when it was not truly a sound at all, I will never know - then reared up on our hind legs to turn toward it more quickly.

You! I snapped.

The figure before us seemed to smile slightly. Who else would you expect, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill? 

What do you have to do with this? my counterpart demanded.

The figure's apparent smile grew larger, although, in truth, it had no mouth at all. Everything, it replied in a voice almost like a feline's purr, and yet nothing at all. At least... less than you did. 

Why do you the past tense? I demanded. Dread filled my hearts.

Don't you know? the figure teased us. You figured the rest of it out. 

What's happened? 

The figure chuckled. Its ears rotated slightly forward. We purposely placed stoppers on the hole, one on each side, it replied. Unfortunately, we chose the stoppers after they were in the same universe... it made something of a paradox, but then, this entire situation is somewhat of a paradox, isn't it? It chuckled again. The hole would remain stoppered so long as its ends did not meet. You have set everything in motion, Aximili and Aximili. Thanks to you, your universes are doomed to become one. 

What are you talking about? I demanded.

Stoppers, my counterpart said. We were right! My hunch was correct! 

Do not babble! I snapped at him, keeping my eyes focused on the other form with us.

I'm not, he replied sharply. I was right, Aximili. We _were_ watching the changes go on around us. Don't you see? The Jacqueline Rip was acting as it was because the hole through S-space was blocked. That's why counterparts didn't necessarily replace each other: the blockages at each side of the hole only allowed whomever, or whatever, could slip through to slip through. Those blockages were _us_. 

It all made sense! And it was to remain that way until the stoppers cancelled each other out, I finished grimly. Which we did, when you offered me assistance and I accepted it. 

By coming into physical contact with one another, we... 

... you ceased to exist, the figure finished. Then its apparent smile grew even more. But do not worry. We have use for you yet. 

We? I said, surprised.

We, it agreed. But not the 'we' you think. They disappeared.

Enienek! my counterpart shouted, but it was no use.

We were alone, in nothingness.

Then, even the nothingness disappeared, as did my counterpart, as I entered complete oblivion.

__

_to be continued...._


	5. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team. The day after Jacqueline's appearance, Tobias spotted a golden eagle turning into a blond boy. Thinking that it might be David, the traitor who nearly destroyed the Animorphs, he and Rachel tried to confront the boy - only to discover that it was Richard, Rachel's counterpart. After much bickering, the Animorphs have come to tolerate Rich. The phenomenon which brought Jack and Rich to the others' reality has been dubbed a "Jacqueline Rip" by Ax, much to Jack's embarrassment. Although the truth behind the effects - a hole in the fabric of reality between the two universes - has been recognized, it still hasn't been found.

Or has it?

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #5 - The Convention

__

Long before....

Pull up! Toniya yelled.

TSEEEEW! TSEEEEEW!

A sharp pain burned all through me, and I was falling. I watched as my Dracon beam-amputated wing, burning like a gasoline-soaked rag, fell below me. I tumbled almost straight down, into a group of Warmaker Iskoort. I cringed, hugging the ground, waiting for the beams I heard being fired to hit me... but nothing. One beam slammed into the ground just next to my remaining wing, but otherwise, nothing. I heard the screams of a Killjoy's falcon, the annoyed-sounding wheezing diaphragms of the Warmaker Iskoort, the growls of the Howler... but no more firing. Why had the firing stopped? Why wasn't the Howler tearing me to shreds yet? Why was I still hugging the ground, getting trod on by Iskoort feet?

They can't kill the Iskoort! Jack yelled suddenly. Use the Iskoort for cover! 

They couldn't _what_? I looked up at the Iskoort that surrounded me. Was Jack saying I was _safe_? Not bothering to think about it, I started to demorph.

Chris! Jack yelled at me in private thought-speak. Chris, if you can hear me, demorph! Demorph! 

Yeah, yeah, I know, I muttered a little shakily, getting to my morphing feet.

Ax! Behind you! Diane shouted.

Here comes another one! Maria yelled.

Chris. Are you okay? Jack asked me.

The shock of losing my wing suddenly caught up with me, even though I was morphing out. One of the Iskoort kicked me in my still mostly-hawk head. I'll...you know... uh... demorph, I said, dazed.

Chris, demorph! And stay close to the Iskoort! 

Yeah, I replied, trying to get to my feet again. Yeah. 

I can't leave you like this! 

No, I agreed, then realized what agreeing might mean. Just because I was among Iskoort didn't mean Jack was. She could be killed! Yes. Go. You have to- I screeched as another Warmaker Iskoort kicked me. Watch it! I snapped at them. They ignored me. Jack? Jack, go help the others! Jack? No answer. She must have left.

_Good_, I thought grimly, finally getting my feet under me again. By this time, I was too big to be getting kicked around. I stood up straight, then ducked, so that I was no taller than the Iskoort around me. They shoved against each other, against me, but by now I was finally too big for them to shove too hard. They were weak, compared to humans. I risked a glance above their triangular heads: the Howlers weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to me. Three of them were chasing after a small, narrow-winged bird.

A Killjoy's hawk.

"Jack, no!" I yelled, but if she heard - which I doubt - she just kept going. I raced after her, not thinking. _No, no, no,_ I thought, my teeth clenched tight, my bare feet slapping against the Lego-like ground. _No, no, no…_

I broke into the clearing just in time to watch her fall, twisting in a sickening spiral, over the edge of the platform.

"Jack!" I screamed, as a Howler tore through the hedge after her -

- and plummeted straight down.

Tears stung my eyes, but at the same time, I clenched my right hand into a fist. I kept clenching until I could feel my palm getting wet, not with tears, not with sweat, but with blood from my nails cutting into my palm. And still I kept it clenched.

"One down, each side," I muttered.

Then I turned and ran.

I ran, ready to take on any Howler with my bare hands.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Because, as I ran, a human hand suddenly appeared out of thin air above a gaggle of Iskoort, grabbed me, and pulled me through what turned out to be a hologram.

"Where's Jack?" Maria demanded.

I shook my head. "She was hit," I said, my voice totally monotone. I had no idea how I was talking at all.

Axel's grip tightened on the hologram emitter in his hand. Gone?! he demanded.

"Where's Toniya?" I asked, looking at the other three.

Diane blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Scouting for the two of you," she replied.

"Good idea, covering as Iskoort," I said. "The Howlers aren't allowed to shoot them. At least, that's what Jack-" I swallowed heavily.

Diane looked smugly at Maria. "Told you."

We cannot fool them forever, Axel pointed out. It is only a matter of time before something penetrates our holofield. 

"Right," I agreed, nodding. "Axel, I think we're going to have to sacrifice another holographic emitter."

"What?" Maria demanded. "In case you haven't noticed, Chris, I only have so much hair!" She pulled at the bottom of her hair, now to her shoulderblades rather than down her back. "I've already lost a over a foot! Do you think I can _afford_ another emitter?"

"Do you like your hair, or your life?" I snapped in reply.

"Whoa," Diane breathed. "Mouse grew a backbone." I glared at her. She held up her hands in surrender. "What morph, oh mighty one?"

"The Howlers don't seem to have good microvision," I said, recalling the stint after our first encounter. "Bugs."

Maria shuddered. "How do I know, and why do I let people ask?"

It wasn't long before the Howlers figured us out, but by then, it was too late. Axel and Diane were dragonflies; Maria and I were roach spiders. The holoemitter stood, abandoned, in the middle of the walkway.

The Howlers growled and roared between themselves, splitting into two groups and moving away. Cautiously, Guide showed up, and, curious, picked up the holoemitter, and shut it off. Friends, good friends, are you still here? he called.

Shut up, Diane said, true to form. I swear, her favorite words are "Shut up". We're here. I'm about to land on your shoulder. Axel, you take his other one. 

Maria and I are in the hedge, I said. Maria, let's go to the top, where Guide can get us. 

We need another hiding place, Maria said, climbing up the stalk beside me.

Quickly, Guide scooped us up. I know just the spot, he assured us. They'll _never_ fi- 

Shut up, Diane snapped. Guide did.

We went down several flights of stairs, down what seemed to be an endless staircase… we just kept going down.

Later I learned that we only went down three platforms. But, to a roach spider, no bigger than a child's hand, it was a _loooooooong_ way down.

We all demorphed in a huge, almost airless room. What air there was, was choked with dust. "What's wrong with this place?" Maria asked. "Something broke?"

Oh, no, Guide laughed. There is nothing wrong with the equipment. This factory was evacuated simply because the Industrial Worker Iskoort here believe that the factory is haunted with the spirits of fictional characters, and, since they cannot work out a price with the Magic and Superstition Guild to exorcise the spirits, they refuse to work. 

"_What_?" Diane demanded.

I didn't listen as I fell to the ground, my head down. Briefly, Maria touched my shoulder, then moved away. She isn't good with feelings. She hides her own; it's hard for her to sympathize with others. I understood.

Diane listened skeptically to Guide. Axel stood apart, maybe listening, maybe blaming himself for Jack. Axel always blames himself whenever any of us get hurt. Like Maria, he always hides his feelings, but unlike Maria, he isn't very good at it.

A silence fell over us as Guide finished pratting. Diane shook her head. I bowed my head to my knees, but closing my eyes only made the picture clearer - the hawk, falling, the Howler…

Prince Jack! 

I jerked up, startled, and looked toward the door, just in time to see Toniya fly in, to see…

… Jack.

I didn't think about it. I jumped to my feet and ran. She grinned as she ran toward me.

Was she real?

Could she possibly be real?

The moment she was in reach I grabbed her, pulled her close. Before I knew it I was kissing her and she was kissing me, and all was well with the world. With _any_ world.

Howlers? Who cared about Howlers?

Jack was safe.

"It's about time," Diane muttered.

That broke the dream-like quality. Embarrassed, Jack pushed away a little, but I wasn't brushed off so easily. I hugged her close one more time, _then_ let go.

Maria tugged on my sleeve. "What, no kiss for me?" she asked, pouting. Then she winked. "No? I guess I'll have to turn to Axel."

Axel looked at her with his main eyes, raising a muscle in his face where his eyebrow would be. Even if I had a mouth, Maria, he said, I think you know what the answer to that would be. 

"Don't even _look_ at me," Diane said, putting her hands out in front of her.

Maria pouted. Then, grinning that insane, "put-me-in-a-rubber-room" grin, she marched over to Guide and kissed him on top of his triangular head.

He looked up at her, surprised. He stuttered for a moment, then, still flustered, he asked, Would it be possible for me to sell that? 

Maria smiled at him sweetly. "Not on this world, buddy."

_That was what cinched it, I guess. I mean, what really got Jack and I... you know, together. We've always cared about each other - at least, I think we have - but that experience just seemed to finalize it._

Everybody in our group - especially Maria, Elfangor, and Toniya, Rich when he was with us, and Axel and Diane to a lesser extent - knew it. But, after that, everybody_ - our parents, our friends at school - knew._

I guess it takes a few near-death experiences to know how you really feel.

I know_ we've had more than enough to figure out how we feel by now._

If it weren't for Jack, there's no way I could hold on, no way I could keep fighting. She means more to me than anything, than anyone. She means countless times more to me than me....

CHAPTER 25

Cassie

I held the skirl carefully, one hand on its nape to save my fingers from bites, the other holding its back feet and tail to keep it from kicking me or lashing me. Chris, with the ease of much practice, squeezed the sides of its mouth, forcing it to open, popped the pill in, then held its muzzle shut until it swallowed. "You don't blow into a skirl's nose," he said. "It'll choke if you do." I nodded as I put the odd little rodent into a different cage. Its squirrel counterpart was back in its original one. We'd already dealt with it.

"We're all done, right?" I asked him, wiping my hands on my jeans.

He nodded. "I think that's it, unless that vulpurine comes back."

I looked at a cage that held a fox whose tail my dad and I had had to amputate. He was lying there, looking glum. I wondered what his counterpart would look like. "Vulpurine" sounded like a mix of a "vulpine" - fox - and a "wolverine" - a weasel. I wondered if it would look more like the skirl or the wolfbane cub.

He wiped his hands on his jeans, then sat down on the third step on the ladder to the hayloft. "It's great to have help," he said, smiling at me.

I smiled back, and sat on the ground at the foot of the ladder. "Yeah," I agreed. "It's like suddenly having a brother."

"Or sister, as the case may be," he added. "I think most of us are seeing it that way." He looked up toward the hayloft, where the others were. I heard Rich, Maria, and Marco arguing over which superhero would beat which superhero. Maria and Marco were both arguing that the Spiderman of their universe was better than the other's, while Rich was certain that Batman would beat both of them up, or something like that. "Rich and Rachel would be an exception."

"I think it's cool for Jake and Jack, though," I said. "And Tobias and Toniya, too. I mean, they're so different from the rest of us, you know? Jake and Jack have to lead everybody. It's good for them to get to know each other. And Toniya and Tobias are both _nothlit_s. I think it's great that Tobias has gotten a second chance to meet Elfangor. I'm glad we _all_ have."

"Mm-hmm," Chris agreed half-heartedly.

I looked up at him. He had his arms folded tightly over his chest, and he looked as if someone had stabbed him, but he didn't want anyone to know it. "Chris, what's wrong?" I asked.

He sighed. "All this switching," he said, shaking his head a little. "Ax and Axel have been together through all of this - have you noticed that? - but… you know, I haven't seen Jack since she first disappeared." His jaw tightened a little, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't care what happens, Cassie," he said, his voice quiet, so that the others couldn't hear. "I just don't care." Rich's voice cut off in mid-sentence, to be replaced by Elfangor's. "I just want to see Jack again."

I stood up and put my arms around his shoulders. He rested his head on my collarbone. No one could see us; everyone was far from the edge of the hayloft, for safety's sake. "You will," I told him, not sure if I was telling the truth or if I was just trying to make him feel better.

He chuckled a little. Unfolding his arms, he patted one of mine. "Thanks, Cass," he said. "Thanks for reminding me for myself."

"What are counterparts for?" I asked, smiling a little.

*

I guess it was okay for me, meeting Chris.

I mean, except for Marco, I was the last person to meet my counterpart. Christopher and I first met after Erek, who was in one universe, and another Chee, who called herself Fran, in the other, finished trying to explain to us what was going on. It seems that the Chee-net was able to penetrate through the hole in S-space so that the two of them could time their explanations perfectly with each other, so that when one of us blipped from one universe to another we were still able to follow what was going on. When we first saw each other - when I crossed over to the universe where Fran had explained what was going on - we sort of stared at each other for awhile. We weren't shocked, really… not freaked out either. I guess we were just surprised to see each other, finally. Then Chris sort of smiled, I sort of smiled, we shook hands, and eventually decided to try and get our chores done. While going through the animals, I had switched back to the other universe; Chris flipped between universes three times. What it meant was that we were back in the universe where I had heard the story of what was going on. Which universe that was, I don't know. All I know is, the barn was getting a little more crowded. Rich was the first disappearance in hours.

Up in the loft, David alternated between ranting at the others and pleading for his release. Diane was silent except for several "Shut up!"s aimed at David. Maria and Marco continued their "discussion" of Spiderman. Rachel, Jake, and Elfangor started discussing the math final that was coming up.

"Eerie how everybody's talking about normal stuff," Chris said.

"How is that any more eerie than us doing our chores?" I asked. "I guess it's a way of dealing with how crazy this all is. Ignoring the fact that anything more unusual than normal is happening."

He was about to say something, then stopped. He raised one eyebrow. "More unusual 'than normal'," he echoed. "Since when were we normal?"

I raised an eyebrow in reply. "If you don't know, why do you think _I_ should?"

The sharp sound of fast flapping wings startled everyone into silence. Tobias and Toniya burst through the doors of the hayloft at full speed, then, turning like well-trained air force bombers, landed side-by-side on the rafter closest to the hayloft.

Chris and I traded worried glances.

"What is it?" Elfangor asked.

It's the Axs, Tobias said, wasting no time. They're gone. 

"What?" Rich demanded. Obviously, he had returned.

CHAPTER 26

Chris

"What?" Rich demanded. Obviously, he had returned.

A footstep sounded behind me.

For a moment, I had this totally heart-wrenching fear that it was one of my parents. Where _were_ Cassie's and my parents, anyway? Were they stuck in one universe, and us in the other? I turned.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded.

I simply stared at her.

She seemed ragged, exhausted, but no more so than when faced with Vissers or Carnotauruses. Her hair was frizzed, her eyes shadowed, her clothes wrinkled, her entire body smelling of the barn.

She had never been more beautiful.

Before she could say another word I kissed her, long and deep, to make up for the weeks we'd missed.

She gasped as I let her go. "Uh… hi," she said, laughing a little. "Guess I should disappear more often."

"Don't you even dare."

Cassie abruptly started up the ladder behind me. I glanced upward.

"Chris…" I looked at Jack again. People thought we looked kind of weird together, since she was taller than me, and we're what people think they're polite to call a "mixed" couple. But it doesn't matter. So long as we're together, nothing can ever matter.

Jack glanced upward. Chris, she said, changing over to thought-speak. (Though it definitely has its uses, _none_ of us have really gotten used to using it all the time.) Cassie and Jake… here… they're not… 

Not what? 

She glanced upward again. They're not like us. She bit her lip a little. Jake's as bull-headed as me. And Cassie isn't so easily broken by fits of… 

… insanity, I finished, smiling a little. We'd both agreed that "fits of insanity" was better than "fits of emotion" or, worse, "fits of passion". I shudder at the thought of using that second possibility. 

By fits of insanity, she agreed. Then, teasingly, she added, She's stronger than you. I raised an eyebrow at her. She stifled a giggle. Stop that! She kissed me on the nose. Come on. Duty calls. 

I sighed. Doesn't it always, I pointed out, then moved aside to hold the ladder for her.

CHAPTER 27

Cassie

I felt kind of numb inside, looking around the hayloft. Except for the two Axs, we were all together. Every Animorph, at last, was in the same place, in the same timeline.

I avoided looking across the hayloft at Jack and Chris. From the moment they got back together, they hadn't left each other's side. Not once.

I kept telling myself, _I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous_.

I can't say how jealous I was. It made me sick. That's why I was trying to convince myself I _wasn't_ jealous.

Confused yet?

I already was.

While avoiding looking at them, I looked at everyone else. I was sandwiched between Rachel and Jake on one hay bale. A little to our right, Diane kept David's cage firmly between her and Rich on another bale. To our left, Elfangor seemed to have a bale almost to himself, but that wasn't true: it's just that Tobias and Toniya, who took up far less space than any of the rest of us, were perched on either side of him. Marco and Maria sat on a hay bale stacked above Jack's and Chris's.

"We're too squished," Rachel said, breaking the silence. She winked at me, then boosted herself onto the hay bale above Jake and me. She swung her feet, keeping me from moving over.

How could she think like that at a time like this?

How _dare_ I feel grateful?

"The Axs are gone, maybe dead," I said, speaking my less personal thoughts out loud. "Why?"

They were talking to each other, something about this revolving around them, Toniya said.

They were? Tobias asked, confused.

Axel never keeps anything from me, Toniya replied. He was joking with his counterpart about a theory they had come up with about this revolving around them, since beyond their early cross-overs, they didn't go anywhere. 

Elfangor looked thoughtful for a moment. "Repeat again - what happened, exactly?"

Tobias sighed. A tree appeared right in front of Ax. He crashed into it. Axel stopped running, and offered to help him up. The moment their hands touched, they just… He shuddered, fluffing his feathers. They crumbled into each other. 

All they left behind was some sort of vortex, Toniya said.

"Vortex?" Jake and Jack asked, in the same tone, at the same time. They glanced at each other. Chris rolled his eyes at me and smiled. I did my best to smile back.

It's like a hole into Z-space, Toniya explained, but there's no suction - at least, none we could feel. But the trees went haywire. 

Maria and Marco leaned forward at the same time, opening their mouths, then realized that they were about to say the same thing. Maria glared at Marco stubbornly. He bowed slightly at the waist, gesturing with his hands that she could go. "Haywire trees?" she asked. "Like, as in, 'we've come to suck your brains' trees, or just 'help, my pants are on fire' trees?"

It was like an earthquake, Tobias said. The trees were jumping all over the place- 

Maria and Marco traded a look. Maria nodded. "Jumping trees?" Marco echoed. "Basketball-lay-up jumping trees, or Mexican hat-dance jumping trees?" He and Maria traded high fives.

"This is serious!" Diane snapped. "The Axs could be dead!"

"Get a life, Di," Maria told her. "By the time we reverse this thing, we could _all_ be dead."

Optimistic, aren't we, David snapped. You do what you want - but leave me out of it! 

"Shut up!" Diane snapped at him.

Make me, he sneered back.

"I said _shut up_!" she shouted, raising her hand.

Rich grabbed her wrist before she could smack the cage. "Don't let him bait you," he told her.

"Get off of me, you-" Diane snarled.

"_ENOUGH_!" Everyone jumped, but only Jack jumped to her feet. "_This_ I didn't miss," she snapped. "Can you please keep quiet," she glared at Diane, "unless you're going to _help_ in some way? And you-" she stabbed a finger at David, "- if _you_ don't have anything _useful_ to say, shut up! We're _not_ letting you out, we're _not_ letting you go, but so help me, if you whine _one more time_ I'm going to _punt_ you across the barn! Now _snap out of it_!"

There was silence as Jack sat back down next to Chris.

That wasn't necessary, I told her privately.

She glanced at Chris, then at me. I guess we'd done the same thing. There was a pause before she told me, It's what kept Diane on our side. Sometimes you can't play nice. Sometimes, you just have to flex some muscles, waste some breath, and get it into some skulls who's the alpha animal. 

"Back to bullying the new kid, huh, Jack?" Diane asked softly. Jack looked at her in surprise. "You always have to be right, don't you? All hail the mighty Princess Jacqueline, she can outshout a rat in a cage." Diane's eyes narrowed. "You're always so strong when you have 'em cornered, aren't you, Jack? You were so strong when you had _me_ stuck in here." She gestured around the hayloft. "But I got loose, didn't I? Didn't think I could, did you. It was _too_ easy. Just waited for chivalrous Christopher to go on morning duty and decide that I wanted to change into some fresh clothes." Her scowl turned into a sneer. Chris looked in a direction where he didn't have to look at anyone else. "But I learned the hard way about your weakness, didn't I? You care too much. Behind that shouting tigress you're just a puppy who's been getting kicked a little too much. You're a simpering, whimpering fool."

"I'm the simpering, whimpering fool who guarded you for three straight days," Jack muttered. "You tried to kill me, and in return, I _saved_ you."

"Sure. You're the fool who decided to kill the Yeerk in my head by breaking my leg and kicking me in the head whenever I woke up," Diane replied coldly.

I looked at Jake. He shook his head. He didn't know what to do. Elfangor didn't look like he was paying any attention. Maria had her hand over Marco's mouth, keeping him from butting in: why, I couldn't guess. Rich watched silently. I couldn't see Rachel's reaction, and with Tobias and Toniya, it was impossible to read expressions from their hawk faces.

Diane wasn't finished. "I learned the hard way about the truth. About what we're _really_ up against. And I know a lot of it depends on you." Her eyes narrowed further. "But I'll tell you this, Jack. You start taking your frustrations out on people like me again, and we'll see who punts who. You may have saved my skin, Jack, but remember who shredded yours."

She scooted backwards, farther onto the hay bale. Rich looked at her with a slight smile. "Guess I was wrong," he said. "I could get to like you."

"Shut up," she replied.

Elfangor looked up.

"I think I understand," he said.

CHAPTER 28

Chris

I think we all listened equally attentively to Elfangor, because, in the end, we were all equally confused. Even Toniya didn't seem to get it.

And when Toniya can't put Andalite thinking into human terms, you _know_ it's complicated.

But this problem wasn't any different from any other Elfangor had figured out before we did: he didn't give up on us.

He leaned forward into his classic thinking position: I think of it as classic, because it's the exact same position as that famous "Thinker" sculpture people are always making fun of, by picturing the statue on a toilet - bent over, elbow on one knee, fist between the chin and mouth.

"What seemed strange from the start was the haphazard way things appeared and disappeared," he started over. "Counterparts weren't replacing each other - the very fact that counterparts could interact had me baffled. In all known equations, when counterparts come in contact with one another - when sharing the same time-space - they should cancel out."

"Easy on the math, Einstein," Maria warned him. "You're getting too technical."

Elfangor nodded slightly, understanding. "Simply put, I was unable to figure out why counterparts, upon meeting each other, didn't cease to exist." A chill ran through me: if that had happened, of us all, only Elfangor would exist now. I wrapped my arm around Jack's shoulders, not caring who saw. She leaned against my shoulder. She was shaking, just a little.

No wonder: if what Elfangor was saying was right - which it had a tendency to be - in normal circumstances, she and Jake would have been the first to "cease to exist".

I saw Cassie discreetly take Jake's hand. I could only see how his hands shook because I was looking for it. He knew, too.

"I've just realized that the reason counterparts are not canceling each other out is childishly simple. To cut out all technical explanation-"

"_Thank_ you," Maria said, sounding extremely thankful. Then she grunted softly; I couldn't see her, since she was behind and above me, but I guessed that Marco elbowed her.

Elfangor continued as if the interruption hadn't happened. He had a lot of practice doing that. "To cut out unnecessary, explanation, the Chee won't be able to find the Rip - because we're _in_ it."

Of course! Toniya cried.

"Resident bird-brained translator, do your stuff," Maria said. "And Marco, keep your elbows to yourself this time."

Toniya glared at Maria, her head cocked a little to the side, her eyes narrowing slightly, in the way she'd adapted to show a "smile". Funny, she said, I remember an argument earlier about this… something about you, me, and birdbrains. 

Even _I_ remember that, Rich told me, smiling slightly as he glanced at me. I smiled back. I couldn't put into words how glad I was he was back. I know Rich: I know he wouldn't do anything - _anything_ - he thought would hurt _anyone_. At least, not anyone who didn't deserve it. And Rich isn't someone who likes to hold grudges. He didn't leave, to hurt anyone: he did it because he thought it was the only way.

Another thing I know about Rich is that, though he may be stubborn, opinionated, and yes, sometimes chauvinistic (without meaning to be, and never to the point of offense; "chivalrous" fits him better than "chauvinistic"), he can admit when he's wrong.

Sometimes, I think Jack's forgetting how to do that.

This is exactly like the Sario Rips we've experienced, Toniya said. We exist in two places at the same time - impossible, yes, if the Sario Rip didn't warp reality. Sario Rips form pockets of instability in real space. They sort of bend time, to let people exist in more than one place at once. That's why we could be in the Central America, or whatever rainforest it was, and living normally at the same time, and why we could be on the planet Leera and be mosquitoes at the same time, and all that. 

"Summarize, Tonni," Diane warned her. "Time, no matter how warped, is still trickling by. Please, summarize, before we run out of it."

Sorry, Toniya apologized. Anyway, getting back to the point- I heard some snickering above me, and Jake rolled his eyes, so I guess Maria and/or Marco did some sort of sight gag Jack and I missed, - all that could happen, not because the Sario Rip was _there_, but because we were _in_ it. We could get back from C.A., or Leera, or the Dinosaur Era, when we got _out_ of the Sario Rip - not if we sent it crashing down on us! 

"So, what you're saying, in an even smaller summary," Marco said, "is that if we find a way _out_ of this Jacqueline Rip, it shuts down? But what about everyone else?"

Elfangor frowned. "In theory…" he began.

"Y'know, I am getting seriously _sick_ of theories," Diane said.

Elfangor smiled tolerantly at her. She saw, and looked away. "All Sario Rips have a force quotient," he said. "The force quotient is what determines the strength of the rip, and, in the case of Sario Rips, how long they last."

"What about this rip?" Jake asked. "If it _has_ a force quotient, what do you think it determines here?"

"I believe we already know the force quotient," he replied.

Six-point-five seconds, Toniya said.

"Can I speak for us all by saying, 'huh'?" Maria asked.

"The time displacement between our universes," Jack answered. She lifted her head from my shoulder.

Elfangor nodded. "With Sario Rips, the force quotient decreases as the point of entry and point of existence - the time-space where it begins and the time-space where it effects - come closer together. Since the change in space between is often negligible, if not a set quantity, usually only time plays a factor in that."

But if the Jacqueline Rip is through S-space… Toniya said. How would time _or_ space be effective, if S-space doesn't _have_ either of them? 

Elfangor sighed. "I don't know."

"Well, we have our entrance into S-space, don't we?" Cassie asked.

"The vortex," I agreed. "Is there some way to test it?"

Elfangor frowned again. "Assuming that the force quotient _remains_ at 6.5 seconds… and given the values of spacial consistencies, and allowing for conversion…"

"English, not Andalitese, Elfangor!" Maria told him impatiently.

"I would guess that the vortex would connect our universes," he said finally. "I think that, given enough mass - probably at least three hundred pounds - motionless objects placed in the vortex would be able to force themselves against the siphoning effect of the Rip to send objects into opposing universes to return to their own positions. And, if motionless objects of the necessary weight _were_ to pass through the vortex, then it would… clog."

We were quiet for a moment.

"That is one killer math problem," Maria said.

"That sounds like one killer 'guess'," Marco added.

"Clog?" Diane was about as confused as the rest of us. "Like, a clogged drain?"

"Or a wooden shoe type clog?" Maria added quickly, reviving the earlier joke.

"Clogged drain type clog," Elfangor replied. "It is an nth-space physics problem."

"Hey, don't look at us to understand," Marco said. "I don't take _normal_ space physics 'till senior year… maybe."

Toniya laughed. Oh, please. 

"What?" Marco asked.

Toniya chuckled. Sorry. I aced it three years ago. Go on, Dad. 

"For something to stay in motion," Elfangor explained, "it requires enough force to remain in motion, as well as enough force to negate any opposing force, such as gravity. Although, under normal conditions, S-space may be without time, space, or gravity, all three of those, along with human beings, pieces of buildings and trees - nothing over three hundred pounds - have been going through the Rip."

"Uhh, sorry, Elfangor, but lots of those trees, and especially those houses, weigh more than three hundred pounds," Marco pointed out.

"Not to mention _cars_," Maria said, emphasizing the last word for some reason.

Elfangor shook his head. "The Rip no doubt allows time through it just as it does people. Because of that, its effects work faster than those objects - or creatures - not being effected by it directly."

"So some things go through piecemeal," Jack said.

Rachel suddenly looked a little green. "That would explain the fading problem early on," she said. "Going across, piece by piece." From the look on her face, I guessed that she was going to stay quiet for awhile.

"So you're pretty much saying," Marco summarized, "that if we throw six hundred pounds into the vortex - three hundred pounds from each universe - and let them go their own directions, whatever we toss in should plug up each end?"

"It won't destroy the rip," Elfangor agreed, "but it should buy enough time to find ourselves a way to do it."

"But what do we use?" Diane asked.

I heard a twin pair of _smack_s above me, probably as both Maria and Marco slapped their foreheads.

"She _has_ to ask, doesn't she?" they asked at the same time.

*

We stood outside the gaping, off-white hole that had sucked the Axs out of existence. Not surprisingly, David was the first one to voice what we were all feeling. I am _not_ going in there! he yelled, gripping the bars of the cage with his forepaws. He shook at the bars and lashed them with his tail. Don't bring me in there! 

"We don't have a choice," Diane snapped. "While we're all stuck on this end of the rip, one of our universes is unprotected from the Yeerks. If we want to find an end to this without sacrificing one of our realities, we have to go in there." Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "So shut up!"

I smiled to myself; somehow, Diane telling someone to shut up was a bit of normalcy that was reassuring.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Rich beat her to it. "Let's do it," he said.

He and I shared a slight glance. Just like old times, huh? I asked him.

Never thought it'd feel so good to say _that_ again, he agreed.

I took Jack's hand. She looked at me. "I won't let go," I promised.

She smiled, kissing me on the cheek, then slid her hand over mine to grip my wrist. I gripped hers in return. Gripping wrists was more secure than holding hands. "Neither will I," she promised.

Our life chain formed quickly. To balance ourselves, we tried to be as reflective as possible: Elfangor stood at the middle, between Jake and Jack; I was between Jack and Rich, Cassie between Jake and Rachel. Rachel gripped Cassie's wrist and David's cage while Rich gripped my wrist and Diane's. Maria held onto Diane's wrist and Toniya's leg while Marco had his fingers laced in the other side of David's cage, and held Tobias's leg in his other hand. Let's get this done, Toniya said. My leg is already starting to cramp. 

"Are we ready?" Elfangor asked us. The answers varied, but the overall response was clear: we'd never be ready, but we were going to do it.

The only sounds as we entered the vortex were our footsteps and the high-pitched whimpering of David as he cowered in his cage.

CHAPTER 29

Elfangor

S-space.

A place without form, substance, distance, time. Everything about it seemed unreal, because it was. Our minds convinced us what wasn't there was, because the absence of it was too confusing to comprehend.

We could see each other, and ourselves, again and again; but each time, we were somehow changed. I saw many lifelines that were missing links - lifelines without Jake, without Rachel or Rich, without Toniya, without David - or with him, human - or Diane - or with her in the cage. I saw lifelines with true duplicates - two of Jake or Maria or even of everyone. I saw short lifelines, of just two or three people. I saw people standing - if what we were doing could be called standing - alone. I saw big gaps where there were no lifelines at all. And far, far away, I could see people change entirely. I saw strangers among friends, enemies among strangers, friends among enemies. As the lifelines got farther away, they grew more and more different, until, on the edge of what I could clearly see, none of what I saw even resembled a human.

We were outside the Jacqueline Rip, being buffeted by what felt like air currents - truly, motionless, less-than-critical-weight objects speeding by too quickly to see - which flipped us end over end. The Rip was vaguely outlined by the light on either end of it, and the light that flew through it, passed us; the holes between were getting larger and larger.

««Let's do this!»» Rachel shouted. Her voice echoed and ricocheted endlessly, as the sentiment was echoed by other Rachels around us.

««We have to stop spinning first!»» countless Jakes replied. ««We have to get pointed the right way!»»

««Help me!»» an infinite number of voices shouted at each other. I tightened my sliding grip on Jack's and Jake's wrists. The twisting and turning, sliding and churning, were incredible. There was no up, no down, no direction at all: there were just an infinite number of lifelines being churned through the abyss between our homes, countless victims trapped in what was supposed to keep us apart but had instead thrown us together.

Just as it seemed as if I could hold on no longer, the buffetings renewed themselves tenfold. I felt my head whipped by suctions on two sides. I felt my arms straining to remain attached to my body. I felt Jake's and Jack's fingers straining to hold onto me even as I strained to hold onto them.

««I'm slipping!»» screamed through the reflections of all of us.

««Don't let go!»» an equal number of voices cried.

Two of those voices were recognizable.

The first was Maria.

The second was Toniya.

««We're stable!»» infinite Marcos yelled.

A wordless scream sounded through the Rip. A bundle of off-white feathers tumbled passed me.

««No!»» Maria shouted.

««Maria, don't!»» Diane yelled.

««Let go!»» Maria snapped. Diane yelled. Maria tumbled by me, even faster than Toniya, her greater, but not great enough, mass forcing her more quickly in the wrong direction. She snagged hold of one of Toniya's legs.

««Grab her!»» Jack shouted.

No one could. No one had a free hand.

Tobias screamed.

I leaned forward, trying to see that end of the lifeline. Where was my daughter? Tobias? Maria?

Then I saw.

Maria had somehow managed to snag Tobias's free leg. Now, she held onto _two_ hawks. ««I can't hold on!»»

Around us, other lifelines were breaking apart. Some were preparing to finish what they had prepared themselves to do. Others were trying to solve problems similar to our own.

««Toniya!»» Maria screamed. ««Claw back! You can do it!»»

Toniya moaned. ««My leg,»» she whimpered.

««_Your_ leg!»» Tobias shouted. ««I'm being ripped in half!»»

As I watched, a determined look crossed Maria's face. She was remembering what I had said. No matter what jokes Marco - or Maria - may make about their learning, they do know simple physics. They know that, if you throw a ball in the air hard enough, it will go up, against gravity. ««Maria, don't!»» I shouted, but it was no use.

Maria is a very stubborn girl.

With a wordless yell, Maria twisted, throwing Toniya as hard as she could, _against_ the suction. The suction - the force quotient - only dealt with objects not in enough motion to negate it: Toniya tumbled back the way she came. Diane twisted forward, gripping Rich's wrist as tightly as she could, and grabbed one of Toniya's wings before the limited force Maria had placed on her wore off. Diane hugged Toniya to her chest. ««Maria!»» she shrieked.

Maria had twisted more violently than Diane, but she had only had Tobias's leg to hold onto. She hadn't had Rich's hand gripping her wrist. Her hand slipped off Tobias' foot.

She went tumbling, end over end, out of reach - in the wrong direction.

««No!»» Marco screamed. A sickening _crack_ sounded through the Rip, as Tobias's leg bent in an entirely new direction - and he was ripped out of Marco's hand.

Just at that moment, Jake's and my grip on each other's wrists slipped at the same time. Before either of us could recover, our fingers slipped uselessly passed each other, and the lifeline was broken.

I saw a flash of sunlight, an illusion of trees, then fell into oblivion.

CHAPTER 30

Cassie

Now I know what oblivion is.

Oblivion is less than nothingness. It is the absence of sight, of sound, of sensation. It is the absence of feeling or thought or memory. It is an utter emptiness, a realm where there is nothing.

It is a place without sight, but you can see it surrounding you. A place without sound whose nonexistent echoes deafen you. A place that would haunt my nightmares if I was able to dream, or be afraid. A place I could have thought of as peaceful, if I could think, or feel at peace.

All there was - of all the emptiness, of the true void that surrounded me, passed through me, _made_ me - was a sense of waiting. The feeling that something was going to happen, that something _had_ to happen, so I had to be ready for it.

I knew I was ready for it. I just had to wait for whatever it was that I was prepared for to happen.

And I was willing to wait.

*

When I opened my eyes, I felt as if I was doing it for the first time. I felt strange. Solid. Heavy. As I sat up, I wondered who I was. _Cassie_, a voice within me said. I wondered what had happened to my emptiness, my realm of nothing. Had what I was waiting for happened? Had my wait ended? How long had I been waiting? It had seemed like an eternity without time.

"Let's _not_ do that again."

I jumped a little, startled at the noise. My fuzzy brain translated the sounds into words, but the words didn't have any more meaning than the sounds did.

My mind cleared slowly, dazedly recalling my life, who I was, what I was, what surrounded me, who surrounded me. I watched dreamily as the rip into S-space faded from view. Then, my mind almost clear, I looked around me.

Jake was sitting with one leg folded beneath him, one hand in his hair, his eyes closed, no doubt waiting for his mind to get up-to-date.

David's cage was on its side, but still closed. He huddled in one corner, staring at nothing, still trying to come to grips between reality and whatever was trying to pass as it.

Rachel appeared more alert, but less calm; she sat cross-legged with her hands over her face, sobbing.

Marco was the most alert; he was standing, looking alternately between where the entrance to S-space had been and at the last of our group.

The daze-like feeling returned as I, too, looked at our fifth member. Flashes of memory, of tumbling feathers, of a body falling, streamed before my eyes. Memories that truly seemed unreal. Memories that were much too real.

Slowly, our fifth member got themself upright. They looked at us, one at a time, trying to mask what they felt and not quite succeeding.

"Toniya?" they asked.

"She isn't here," Jake replied.

Rachel uncovered her tear-streaked face. "Neither is Tobias," she said softly, accusingly.

Our fifth member bowed their head. Their voice told too clearly how sincere they were, much more than the simple words they spoke.

"I'm sorry," Maria whispered.

CHAPTER 31

Chris

When I opened my eyes, I felt as if I was doing it for the first time. I felt strange. Solid. Heavy. As I sat up, I wondered who I was. _Christopher_, a voice within me said. I wondered what had happened to my emptiness, my realm of nothing. Had what I was waiting for happened? Had my wait ended? How long had I been waiting? It had seemed like an eternity without time.

"Let's _not_ do that again."

I jumped a little, startled at the noise. My fuzzy brain translated the sounds into words, but the words didn't have any more meaning than the sounds did.

My mind cleared slowly, dazedly recalling my life, who I was, what I was, what surrounded me, who surrounded me. I watched dreamily as the rip into S-space faded from view. Then, my mind almost clear, I looked around me.

Jack was sitting with one leg folded beneath her, one hand in her hair, her eyes closed, no doubt waiting for her mind to get up-to-date.

Diane lay on her side, her eyes open and unblinking, her body motionless. The glazed look in her eyes told me that she was still trying to sort between reality, and whatever was trying to pass off as it.

Rich was more alert: he sat cross-legged with Toniya in his lap, looking grim and, oddly enough, hurt. He seemed engrossed in getting Toniya's feathers in order, same as a sculptor sculpts clay that might turn to dust beneath his fingers. One of her wings and one of her legs were twisted at grotesque angles. Toniya moaned softly, her gray-brown eyes squeezed shut.

Elfangor was the most alert: he was standing, staring at where the entrance to S-space had been. A bundle of brown lay in his arms.

"Wh-where's Maria?" I asked, my voice slurred.

Jack shuddered. "Gone," she whispered.

"To the other universe?" I half asked, half suggested. She shrugged half-heartedly.

"What about Tobias?" Rich asked. "Marco lost him at the very end."

"He's safe," Elfangor replied quietly.

"How…" Diane pushed herself more upright with a groan. "How do you know?" she grumbled.

Elfangor didn't answer. He merely looked down at what he held gingerly in his hands.

Tobias stirred, then opened his glaring, golden eyes. He looked at each of us, then rested his head down again, closing his eyes once more. Oh, no.... he moaned.

__

_to be continued...._


	6. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

So far, a stranger came upon the Animorphs, one that knew absolutely everything - but she knew absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name was Jacqueline - although she preferred being called "Jack". She knew everything Jake knew - but she knew the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team.

The Animorphs have bought themselves time - by forcing themselves through the hole between their timelines, they act as a barrier between their universes, which has paused the problems - but not reversed them. Maria, along with countless others (including Chris' mother, Rachel's sister Sarah, Rich's brother Sam, and Jake's family's van) is stranded in the wrong place. Ax, Tobias, Toniya, and Axel may be dead - no one knows.

A month has passed. Normalcy - or what has _become_ normalcy - continues. But, still, a solution has yet to surface.

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #6 - The Counterpart

__

Long before....

Swoosh!

The Bug fighter flew over once again, seemed to pause, then settled down toward the floor of the quarry. It landed as gently as a feather.

I held my breath.

Wait for it, Jack said. Wait for it.

The hatch opened. Out stepped an Orak-Bajyr-Controller.

The Andalite prince, Arbron, had told us that the Orak-Bajyr were a good decent people who had been enslaved against their will by the Yeerks. Elfangor explained to us that they had once been simple bark-eaters whose nightmare appearance was simply for the purpose of slicing bark from trees.

Uh-huh. Maybe so. No matter what anybody said, they looked just a _little_ bit less huggable than an out-of-control buzzsaw set on "slice and dice Animorphs". Orak-Bajyr are big, walking razor blades. They're about six feet tall, two arms, two legs, and a nasty spiked tail similar to Andalite tails.

There are swordlike blades raked forward from their snake heads and down their long necks. There are blades at the elbows and wrists and knees and ankles.

I mean, let me put it this way: If Klingons were real, they would be scared of Orak-Bajyr.

Get ready. Jack again.

The Orak-Bajyr stepped clear of the Bug fighter. Then, he just stood there.

There will be a Taxxon inside, Axel reminded us.

Yeah. We know, I said.

Why was the Orak-Bajyr just standing there? He should be looking around. After all, he was answering a distress beacon. Why was he just standing there like he was waiting for something?

On the count of three, Jack said in our heads. One... Two... Three!

"Tsseeeeerrrr!"  
Toniya swooped, falling from the sky at close to a hundred miles an hour. She raked her talons forward and hit the Orak-Bajyr's face.

"RROWWWRR!" Jack leaped from cover. She sailed through the air and hit the Orak-Bajyr with paws outstretched, claws bared.

The Orak-Bajyr went down hard.

Jack rolled away as the Orak-Bajyr slashed the air like an out-of-control Cuisinart.

But just then Rich rumbled up, as big as a tank.

Okay, back off, Jack, Rich said. I have him.

He pressed one big, tree-stump leg on the Orak-Bajyr's chest and pressed him down against the ground. He didn't crush him, just held him like a bug who could easily be squashed.

The Orak-Bajyr decided it was time to stop struggling and lie very still.

_Too easy_, a part of my mind warned me. _Too easy. No Orak-Bajyr Controller had ever just given up like that_.

But I had other problems. My job was to get inside the Bug fighter. Get the Taxxon pilot.

Let's go! I yelled.

I ran forward, loping clumsily on my slightly short hind legs, swinging my slightly longer, heavy paw/hands forward to catch me with each loping stride. Chris and Axel were right there with me. Taxxons are disgusting, oversized centipedes, but I wasn't worried. We were more than enough to handle a Taxxon.

But then -

_Zzzzzzzzaaapppp!_

A brilliant red beam of light sliced the air just inches in front of me. It blocked my way.

_Zzzzzzzzaaaapppp!_

Another beam of blinding red light. This crossed behind me. It exploded gravel into steam as it traced a path!

Dracon beams! Axel cried.

I spun around, looking for cover.

_Zzzzzzaaaaappppp!_

Look! Chris screamed in our heads. Up on the edge of the quarry!

I looked, as the Dracon beams formed a cage of deadly light around us. The edge of the quarry above was lined with Orak-Bajyr. I looked left. More! To the right... more!

The entire quarry was lined with Orak-Bajyr warriors, each armed with a Dracon beam. There must have been a hundred of them. We were surrounded.

Completely surrounded.

Stay in morph, Jack snapped. Don't let them know we're human.

Let's charge them! Rich yelled. Some of us might make it through!

No! You can't even climb that rock face. Don't be stupid, Rich! We'll get our chance.

Chris called Toniya. Toniya! You can get away!

I don't think so, she said. No headwind. It would take me a couple minutes to flap my way up out of here. They'd've fried me ten times before I got ten feet up.

The reality settled over us. The despair.

What are we going to do? Chris asked, his voice a monotone.

There has to be a way out! There _has_ to be! Rich yelled.

Not this time, I said grimly.

There will be, Jack said, but I think she was trying to reassure herself, not us. There will be.

We were trapped. Outnumbered. Outsmarted.

Finished.

And that was when _he_ came.

He looked so much like Axel. The resemblance was so eerie it always sent shivers down my spine. Give Axel slightly paler fur, about four inches in height, and more golden eyes, and they'd've been twins.

And yet, they were so totally different. The difference wasn't something you saw, physically. It was something you felt.

A shadow on your soul. A darkness that blotted out the light of the sun. Evil. Destruction.

Not the impersonal, programmed destructiveness of the ants. This was warm-blooded, deliberate evil.

His body was an Andalite. He was the only Andalite-Controller in existence. The only Yeerk to have an Andalite host. The only Yeerk with the Andalite power to morph.

Visser Three.

Visser Three, who had murdered the Andalite Prince Arbron while we cowered in terror.

Visser Three, who even the Orak-Bajyr and Taxxon feared.

Visser Three, the cruel overlord who had stolen Axel's and Elfangor's father from them.

You see, Visser Three's host... the Andalite he enslaved... is the father of Axel and Elfangor. The grandfather of Toniya.

And he knows every one of those facts... except for the facts that it was _us_ who was there when Arbron died, that Elfangor is still alive, and that Toniya even exists.

Well, well, he said, thought-speaking to us. I have you at last, my brave Andalite bandits. Fools. Do you think we never change our frequencies?

_Yeerk!_ Axel said in a silent voice loaded with the hatred of a boy faced with not just the murderer of a close friend - of Arbron - but of the hatred of a boy to his father's killer, too.

Visser Three's main eyes focused on Axel. So young, he said, surprised. Has it really been such a short time? Have the Andalites now been reduced to using their children to fight? A pity, for you and this host of mine. Fantastic, really, for me. He smiled an Andalite smile, one without a mouth, but one poisoned by the darkness that surrounded him. Now I don't have to wait to make this host suffer to watch you become one of my most loyal slaves.

Axel narrowed his eyes until they were almost closed. His delicate, seven-fingered hands balled into very indelicate fists. He started to say something, but Jack snapped, Shut up, Axel! None of us communicates with _him_. We know what he is, Axel, but we give him nothing. _Nothing_.

Axel fell silent, but he was practically vibrating with rage and hatred for the Yeerk Visser. I can hardly say I was surprised.

But Jack was right. We couldn't get into a conversation with Visser Three. The rest of us still wanted to hide the fact that we were humans, not Andalites. We could too easily slip and reveal the truth.

Visser Three seemed to be enjoying his big moment. What a colorful assortment of morphs, he said. Earth has such wonderful animals, don't you agree? When we have enslaved the humans and made this planet over in _our_ image, we will have to be sure and keep some of these forms alive. It would be entertaining to try some of these morphs myself.

None of us said anything. At least not anything that was human. Jack did snarl, drawing her tigress lip back over her teeth.

Especially you, Visser Three said to Jack. That is a beautiful, deadly animal. I approve. In fact, I was going to demand you demorph. But I have a better idea. You see, we have a guest aboard the mother ship. It will be entertaining to show you to Visser One as you are.

I was sick with dread and fear. But not so afraid that I didn't notice a sneer in Visser Three's tone when he said "Visser One".

Did you catch that? Jack asked me in the thought-speak version of a whisper.

Yeah. Visser Three doesn't like Visser One.

Visser Three must have given some signal, because at that moment his Blade ship appeared overhead, shimmering into view as it decloaked.

The Blade ship is far larger than the Bug fighters, and very different. It is jet-black. It's built like some kind of battle-ax from the middle ages, with two curved ax-head wings, and a long, diamond-pointed "handle" aimed forward.

We'd better make a run for it! Rich said.

It would be suicide, I said. As long as we're live, there's hope.

Yeah. Visser Three is taking us to the Yeerk mother ship to show off for his boss. Some hope.

But Rich did nothing. And I did nothing. And we all just stood there, under the watchful eyes of a hundred Orak-Bajyr.

They must have landed out of sight while we were busy watching the one Bug fighter.

Axel had used the wrong frequency. The Yeerks had figured out we were laying a trap. And our trap had become Visser Three's trap.

A couple dozen of the Orak-Bajyr leaped down from the high wall of the quarry and surrounded us. They kept their Dracon beams leveled at us as the Blade ship landed on the quarry floor.

One of the Orak-Bajyr pointed to the Blade ship. A door had opened in the side.

I can't fit in there, Rich said.

But as he approached the door, the door widened to his size. It stretched and grew as if the metal skin of the Blade ship were alive.

What a pathetic little crew we were, trooping inside the Blade ship. Weak and pathetic and stupid to imagine that we could ever have resisted the Yeerks.

Visser Three was right. We were fools.

This wasn't even my fight, I thought. Not really. This wasn't my time to die.

I guess I wanted to feel angry. But what I felt was numb, as I trooped into the Blade ship with the others. You know, like I wasn't really there, almost. I was past feeling anything, I guess. I just kept thinking, _It's happening. It's finally really happening_.

I hadn't wanted to do this mission. Not this weekend. Probably not ever. But, especially, not this weekend.

The next day was Sunday. My mom and Noel would go to my dad's grave. Without me.

It would be awhile before she could admit that I, too, was gone.

Just like when my dad died - there would never be a body.

Just like my dad.

*

This is not looking good, I said. I couldn't take the silence anymore.

No. It isn't. But we're not dead yet, Jack answered.

Yet. Why doesn't that make me happy? I asked. I looked around at the others, all crammed into a windowless steel cube. Black, dimly lit steel walls on all six sides. No door. It was like a coffin.

We look like some kind of circus, I said. An elephant, a tigress, a wolfbane, a vulperine, and a freak of nature.

That got some halfhearted laughs from the others. I don't know why I was making jokes. I guess that's the way I am. When bad things happen, I tell jokes. But inside I felt sick. Like I had swallowed broken glass.

Maybe we should just demorph, Chris said. Maybe if they realize we aren't Andalites, they'll let us go.

He knew it was dumb, of course. But when you're scared, you start grabbing at anything. You want to believe there's a way out.

The truth was, there were exactly two possibilities. Visser Three would kill us. Or Visser Three would turn us into Controllers. He would infest each us with a Yeerk.

We should stay in animal morph, Jack said. I mean, the thing is, if Visser Three learns we're human, he may go after our families next. He may figure we told them something.

And he'll find my father, Toniya added.

Prince Jack is right, Ax said. The Yeerks will not want to take any chances that other humans know of them.

It was true. I knew it was true. I guess I'd known it all along. But hearing it said, it made me want to crawl into a corner.

My mom, and Noel. Chris's parents. Rich's dad and his brothers. Rich's mom, wherever she was now. Jack's parents. Maybe even Jack's sister, Tara, although she was one of _them_. Their lives were at risk, too.

Suddenly, a window opened in one of the walls. It just grew, the same way the door had before. Like the steel was alive. It formed a round porthole, large enough for all of us to see - even Rich, who could only turn his massive head enough to look with one eye.

I gasped.

Below us, blue and white and so beautiful it brought tears to your eyes, was Earth.

Sun sparkled off the ocean. Clouds swirled over the Gulf of Mexico, a big spiral, maybe a hurricane.

Look, Chris said simply.

We looked. Through the eyes of the animals of Earth, but with the minds of human beings, we looked down at our planet.

_Our_ planet.

For now, at least. For a little while longer.

Then something different came into view, as the Blade ship rotated away from Earth.

This is why the Yeerks opened a window, Axel said. This is what they wanted us to see. So that we would despair.

The mother ship.

Axel began to explain what the visible parts of it were, what they did, but I shut him up. I didn't care what the parts were: what good was it? We were doomed.

That huge, bloated ship just hung in orbit, like a predator gazing down hungrily at blue Earth below.

I can't believe people on Earth don't see this on radar, Rich said. I mean, it's huge. It's a city!

It is shielded, Axel said simply. It cannot be seen by radar. And it would normally be invisible to us. Visser Three is showing it to us. To terrify us.

He's doing a good job, I said.

I've never been in space before, Chris said. I decided to be nice for once and not say, "Duh." I always wished I could. I always wanted to see Earth, all in one piece like that.

It is a lovely planet, Axel said gently. Not so much different from mine. Except that we have less ocean and more grassland. I... I am sorry I brought you all to this. This is my fault.

I wanted to yell, "Yes! Yes, it is your fault!"

But Chris said what we all knew in our hearts. Axel, you're only here because your people wanted to protect us. Prince Arbron and a lot of other Andalites died trying to save us. Nothing is your fault.

It was true. But sometimes, when everything hits the fan, you don't want the truth. You just want someone to blame. One too many missions, I muttered. This was going to be my weekend off. Now... well, I guess I get the _rest_ of the weekend off, don't I.

I could see an opening in the side of the Yeerk mother ship - a docking port. As I watched, a pair of quick Bug fighters flew in, dwarfed by the size of the opening.

A minute later, we entered the docking port and were suddenly bathed in deep red light.

Through the window, we could see Yeerk crewmen - Orak-Bajyr, Taxxons, and two or three other alien species, in simple red or dark brown uniforms. And there were humans, too. My first reaction was hope. Humans!

But then I realized the truth. No. Human-Controllers. Yeerks. No different than the Orak-Bajyr.

There was a slight shudder as the Blade ship came to a halt.

Axel? Jack asked. What's our morph time?

We have been in morph for seventy percent of allowable time.

I did the math. So we've got seventy-two minutes.

Yeah, Toniya agreed. Not a lot of time for you guys. Maybe Rich is right. Maybe we should just go out in a blaze of glory. Attack as soon as they open the door. At least we can let them know we were here.

I saw Jack extend her claws, as if she were thinking about using them. She glanced at where the door had once been, like she was measuring the distance. I knew that she was listening to the tigress in her head.

Then she seemed to relax. No, she said. We have to have hope.

Chris sidled up next to her and nuzzled her with his vulperine's muzzle.

I guess it should have been funny. The vulperine and the tigress, sharing a tender moment. But all if did was make me a little jealous. They had each other.

We gave them a pretty good fight, didn't we? I said. Our little circus? We did some damage to them.

Yes, we did, Rich agreed.

Do... Axel hesitated. Then, Do humans fear death?

Yes. We're not crazy about death, I answered. How about Andalites?

We're also not crazy about it.

Through the window we could see a lot of Orak-Bajyr and Taxxons and humans running around, racing to get somewhere. They were lining up. And now, I noticed, there were distinct kinds of uniforms, one red-and-black, the other gold-and-black. The brown uniforms were all around the edges, like they were less important.

Suddenly, without warning, the window stretched open into a large, arched doorway. Fetid air rushed in, smelling of oil and chemicals and something else just as putrid.

A ramp rose up from the steel floor outside to meet us. We were standing like a display at the top of the ramp. All around, filling this side of the docking bay, were uniformed Orak-Bajyr, Taxxons, and humans. Most were in red-and-black. Perhaps two hundred creatures, standing in stiff rows, arranged by species.

About a quarter of the total were in gold-and-black. There were more humans in this group, but also some creatures that looked like unusually massive Orak-Bajyr with shorter blades and less blades on their heads. Those, I knew, were better known as Hork-Bajir.

Jack? I have a feeling. I don't think the reds like the golds.

I think they are troops of two different Vissers, Axel said. I... I think I overheard Arbron talking about that. Each Visser has his - or her, he added for my benefit, - own private army in their own uniforms.

Spiffy. I wonder which group gets to have us? I said.

Far at the back of the rows of alien troops, there was a movement. A party of creatures walking to the front.

Visser Three was at the center, followed by two big Hork-Bajir in red.

And just to his left was a human. A human man with dark hair and very dark eyes.

That was when I stopped breathing. Because I knew. Even before I could see his face clearly, I knew.

They marched up to the bottom of the ramp. A dozen soldiers leveled Dracon beams at us, just in case we wanted any trouble.

Then, in thought-speak that all could hear, Visser Three turned to the man beside him. You see, Visser One. I have taken the Andalite bandits. The crisis is over. Your trip here is wasted, and you can return to the home world.

Visser One nodded. He looked up at us with those dark brown, human eyes.

Eyes I knew. Eyes I remembered.

The same eyes that watched me sleep every night from the framed picture beside my bed.

My father.

Visser One.

I sat down. Very suddenly. I'm sure it looked funny. A big, hairy wolfbane simply falling down on its short plume of a tail.

My father. Not dead.

Alive!

I wanted to yell. "Daddy! Daddy! It's me, Maria!"

But Jack was in my head, a loud, urgent whisper. Maria? Don't say anything. Don't do anything. Do you hear me?

So I wasn't just imagining it. Jack had recognized him, too.

Maria? Listen to me, girl. You have to hold it together.

My father... alive.

My daddy.

What's with you? Rich demanded.

Come on, Maria, stand up, Jack hissed at me. Don't make them suspicious. She was speaking just to me.

I could hear Jack. I could. But it seemed to come from far off. She didn't understand. It was my _dad_. My _real_ dad! Not my stepfather, but _Daddy_!

Maria? That is not your father. Not anymore. That is _not_ him.

Jack? It's my dad. Look, it's him. It's Daddy. If it's him, what does that make Noel?

No it isn't, Maria. It's not him anymore. They have him. He's one of them. One of _them_!

Why, Visser One, Visser Three sneered, you seem to have frightened the humanoid-lupine.

"It is called a werewolf, or wolfbane," Visser One said coldly. "If you are going to be in charge of Earth, Visser Three, you should at least learn something about the planet."

And take a human host body, like you did? No, I think not. Human bodies are weak. I much prefer this Andalite host.

My father looked at him and curled his lip. "I took a human host and learned about the planet and the humans. And because of that I was able to begin the invasion that you have now endangered with your criminal incompetence!"

Visser Three's deadly Andalite tail twitched, as if he was going to stab my daddy… Visser One. The red troops tensed up. The gold troops let their hands edge toward their weapons.

Ooookay, Rich said. I think we were right. These two _definitely_ don't like each other.

He didn't know, I realized slowly. Rich didn't know. But he had never met my father. Neither had Chris or Toniya. And Jack had kept our talk private.

Visser Three slowly relaxed. You would _like_ to provoke me, Visser One, he said. But the fact is that I destroyed the Andalite force. I shot down their dome ship. I killed Prince Arbron myself and heard his dying screams. And now I have eliminated this last, pathetic rabble of Andalites.

My dad... Visser One... just smiled. "You want to be Visser One? You think you can take my title? We shall see. The Council of Thirteen does not like Vissers who make mistakes. And you have made mistakes. Be careful of your own ambition."

He snapped his fingers, and every one of the soldiers in gold turned. Then he walked away, followed by his gold-uniformed troops.

That was not my father. At least not the creature who called himself Visser One.

Visser One was the Yeerk inside my father's brain.

But the sickening thing is, you see, that the host mind is still alive. It is still aware. Somewhere inside that head, behind those painfully familiar eyes, my father still lived.

Take it easy, Maria, Jack said. I know how it is. I know how much you want to do something. But now is not the time. They'd cut us down before we got two steps.

I know, I said dully. I hated myself for not trying, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I had to hide inside my morph. Never let my father know it was me. Never let him know...

Slowly, heavily, I stood up. I felt weak. A very strange feeling for a wolfbane.

I think right then, if I had been in any other morph I would have just surrendered and let the animal mind take over. Let instinct rule, and wash away my human emotion.

But the wolfbane, canine or not, was too much like a human. Its instincts were protective, not destructive. Like humans, it was a creature with emotions, though they were simpler, not quite the same as human emotions. It could only protect nonexistent young from unpresent predators; it couldn't protect me from the pain.

I call the shots, Jack, I said. You're the only one who recognized her. I choose who I tell.

Okay, Maria.

You can't even tell Chris, okay?

It's okay, girl. You are my oldest and best friend. You know that. No one will ever know from me.

*

_Jack kept her promise. Even after Visser One gave us an opportunity to escape, even as we rushed to demorph in the escape capsule, Jack kept her mouth shut and her mind quiet. She let me choose who I told._

I chose exactly two people to talk to. Her, and Axel.

If it weren't for that one, strange, and horrible thing we have in common, I don't know if Axel and I would've have gotten along. If my father hadn't been Visser One, his Visser Three, I don't think I could've stood for his wiseass nature and smartass attitude.

Okay, so maybe we have a little more in common than that one_ thing_....

CHAPTER 32

Maria

I woke up screaming.

"No! Daddy!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

The sheets were tangled so tightly around my legs I couldn't feel my feet. I was sweating; my skin and all the sheets felt equally clammy.

The same dream, yet again. If it hadn't been that one, it would've been the dream of losing him under the ocean, or giving him up in the Yeerk pool.

Always, every night, the nightmares. And, always, the worst were with Dad.

The bed creaked as someone sat down on it. I sighed, waiting for Nora to go through the same thing she always said. Marco's dad didn't normally come when I woke up screaming. He didn't seem to understand that it was worse for Nora to come.

Sure, she was a woman. But that didn't help me. She was the counterpart to my stepfather.

Not my real parent. The one who had married my mother when my father wasn't really dead.

I was surprised to see that it wasn't Nora, but Marco. He smiled a little. "I told Nora to take the night off," he said, his voice quiet. "I figured you could use an ear who could actually listen to what you're dealing with."

I smiled. "Thanks," I said, meaning it. Then my smile faded. "It was the first time, this time around," I whispered. He nodded. "On... on the ship. Do you know what- of course you do." I sighed, trying to get my legs untangled. "But... but my mom married Noel two years after my dad disappeared. They were _already_ married when I found out." He nodded again. I got one leg free. "It... it was awful nice of your dad, and Nora, to let me stay here with you."

He laughed. "You sound like a broken record," he said. "For the last time, your parents would've probably done the same thing for me, right?"

I forced myself to smirk as I pulled my other foot out of a knot in the sheets. "After so many weeks, I'm beginning to doubt," I replied.

He looked at me skeptically. "Y'know, the only reason you _got_ to stay here was on that principle," he pointed out. "If I were to, say, _slip_ and mention that it might not be so mutual..."

"Oh, shut up," I giggled. "Don't tease me."

"Don't tease unless you're willing to get teased back."

"Oh, yeah?" I sneered playfully.

"Oh? What're you going to do about it?"

"Don't tempt me!"

"Tempt you to what?" he asked, leaning close.

"Ooh! Too late!" I lunged forward, digging my fingers into his ribs. "Passed temptation! On to torture!"

"Hey!" He burst out laughing even as he began to retaliate. Soon we were both giggling like lunatics, crying like babies, and generally acting like five years olds. It wasn't long before we fell off the bed with a loud _thump_. That didn't stop the tickling, though. I can honestly say I was shrieking with laughter. Marco wasn't shrieking - he was doing that strange squeaky male equivalent.

"_Marco_!"

We both just _stopped_. Dead still, pressed together, my head under his chin, my back at an awkward angle. I guess we were caught looking kind of... compromising.

"Uh... hi, Dad." Marco grinned, leaning back just enough that I could take my head out from under his chin and get my spine lined up correctly. "Maria was having a nightmare again."

"Marco is very good at getting me cheered up," I said. Then I burst out giggling again. I couldn't help it. Getting tickled makes me hyper.

"Is he now?" Marco's dad asked coldly.

Marco and I shared a glance. That was not a happy Marco's dad standing in the doorway of the guestroom-that-had-been-converted-into-a-room-for-me.

"Go to bed, Marco," he said.

Marco gave me a slight smile. "G'night."

"'Night." He stood up. "Marco... thanks."

He glanced back at me and grinned. "For tickling the crap out of you?"

My mouth fell open. "Why you-!" He laughed, running from the room. "You get back here!" I shouted.

"_Maria_." Marco's dad's voice was Orak-Bajyr-blade sharp. My mouth clamped shut. "Other people in this house are trying to sleep - not to mention several people on this block."

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

The smile he gave back was thinner and more sickly than a cornfield in January (forgive the farm metaphor). "Just go to bed, Maria."

I gave him a salute. "Gotcha." He shut the door as I started to get up.

I stopped moving as I heard Nora speak quietly on the other side of the door. "Everything all right?"

Marco's dad grunted. "It was nothing. Marco and Maria goofing off again."

There was a short pause. "Are you all right?"

"It's..." Another pause. "I can't be in the same room as her, Nora. It's like... like dejà vu. They're too alike." One of them sighed.

"It's okay," Nora said. "I've seen it too." I stood up slowly, frowning. Seen what? "No one can blame you. It's... it's almost frightening."

What?

What was?

I bit my lip.

What was wrong?

What was wrong with me?

CHAPTER 33

Marco

I woke up with cramps in my sides. "That's it," I groaned. I threw the covers off and got out of bed. I showered quick, threw on some clean clothes and sneakers. Then, marching down the hall, I knocked on the door of the former guest room. "Wakey, wakey, Mary Contrary!" I called.

"I've been up for two hours, Corko! Whadaya want?"

I smiled as I opened the door. "New rule," I said. "No tickle torture after three a.m."

"What, I gave _you_ bruises, too?"

I frowned, for two reasons.

One - I'd bruised her?

Two - Where was she?

She peeked out of the closet, smiling. "Kidding," she said, winking. "I hit my elbow when I fell off the bed. It's nothing." Her head disappeared again.

I sat on the bed. "You know what day it is?" I asked.

"It's summer, Marco." I didn't have to see her to know she was grinning: I could hear it in her voice. "It's either Saturday, Saturday, Saturday... well, its either one of six Saturdays, or Sunday. Since Sunday was two days ago, it's Saturday." I laughed. "Why?"

"It's the big three-oh," I said.

"What you talkin' 'bout, boy?" she asked, her voice like that of one of those cronies on television. "It ain't Nora's birthday!"

I shook my head, not wanting to be overheard replying to that. "Thirty days," I said. "Thirty days of you, me, one roof, and no school."

She came out of the closet - _literally_, not in that tricky verbal sense - cinching the belt on her shorts. As usual, I had to be careful not to stare.

The simple truth is, Maria is beautiful.

I used to think Rachel was beautiful... and she is. But for the last month, she has been knocked down to second place.

Maria is truly... truly... beautiful.

"We're getting together with the guys, right?" she asked, going over to her dresser. She brushed her hair straight back, then tied it in a quick ponytail.

"We have an hour, more or less," I replied.

Her reflection smiled at me through the mirror. "Want to grab something to eat on the way?"

I grinned. "Sure."

She turned, spreading her hands. "Am I decent enough to be seen in thy presence?" she asked, smirking a little.

Funny. I'd just been about to do the same thing. "You're gorgeous," I replied. Her smirk faded. Suddenly, she looked... disturbed. For a moment I was afraid I'd been a little too sincere. "What?"

She grimaced a little, then shrugged. "I dunno," she replied, sighing. Then she smiled again, just a little. "I guess I'm not used to people not meaning that."

It was my turn to be a little upset. I _had_ meant it. "You lost me."

We left the room and clattered down the stairs together. "Back home," she said, - "home" meaning her universe in general - "it was always, 'Oh, Maria, you're so beautiful.' 'Oh, beautiful Maria, you are such a goddess, won't you go out with me?'" She stuck her finger in her mouth, as if she was going to stick it down her throat. "Gag. The way some guys fawn on girls with big brown eyes is nauseating. Sometimes I wish I'd lived back in the century where to be beautiful you had to weigh around two hundred pounds. Of course, there wasn't much indoor plumbing back then, so I only think like that after seriously upsetting times."

"We're going over to Jake's!" I shouted.

"_Both_ of you?" Nora asked, coming into the living room from the kitchen. Darn! We were four feet from the door. "You just got up!"

"What?" Maria asked, a little defensively. "Is there something wrong with us going to Jake's?"

Nora frowned a little, getting into that guilt-trip mode all adults know. "I was sort of hoping we could do a family sort of thing," she said, shrugging a little. "You know, just the four of us. Maybe go to the beach."

Maria smiled sympathetically, spreading her hands in defeat. "I'm sorry, Nora," she said, sounding totally sincere, even though I knew she wasn't. "We already promised the gang we'd all go. We started planning this a _week_ ago." Her sympathetic smile quickly turned into a careless grin. "You know how much work it is for us in the summer to do _anything_ for an entire week?"

Nora crossed her arms and sighed a little. "Okay," she agreed. "But... Marco, could I speak to Maria for a moment?"

"There's nothing you can say to me that Marco can't hear," Maria said, before I could open my mouth. Nora looked at me, trying to get around Maria. I glanced at Maria. Maria frowned a little. "I'd really rather Marco hear," she said.

Nora looked a little impatient for a moment, then got over it. "Maria, I'd really rather you tried getting by on your own sometimes," she said. "I understand that you two might want to spend time with one another, but I really don't think you two can be joined at the hip forever."

Maria rolled her eyes a little. "Nora, we've gone through this." She sighed. "At home, I have the same friends as Marco does, honest. And being with them makes me feel less... homesick."

"It's not like she's bugging us," I added, fending off the "tagalong" guilt trip Nora might've planned on using in my absence. My stepmother or no, Nora is still a teacher: she knows all the twists and turns of how to get under a kid's skin. Sometimes, when our interests weren't the same, she had a way of trying to blindside me. I'd quickly learned how to avoid most of her usual attacks. "She's just... one of us."

Maria grinned. "And it's not like they're pressuring me to stay," she added. "It feels good to be with the gang, even if they're a little different."

Nora frowned a little, but I think we'd covered all the lines of attack she'd mapped out. She smiled again; yup, we were safe. "All right," she said. "You two have fun. Call if you're going to be late, understand?"

Maria and I nodded. "Absolutely," we said at the same time.

Nora glanced at me, then Maria, and shook her head, but she was smiling. "I hate when you two do that."

Maria and I traded a glance. "We know," we said, grinning at the same time.

Nora rolled her eyes and laughed. "Get out of here, you two."

Once outside, Maria breathed a sigh of relief. "Normally, I'm all for an all-girls shopping spree," she said. "That's what Nora had on her mind, I'm sure of it. But..." She sighed, shrugging a little. "I'm sorry, but she doesn't seem to get it. Being with her is like being with my stepfather. It's hard to enjoy girl's days out when I keep thinking of her as Noel." She blew her bangs off her forehead. "She respects that you and your dad need time together. Unfortunately, she keeps looking to make up for it by having quality time with me."

I shrugged. "Nora means well," I agreed, "but she can be pushy."

"Guess it comes from years of putting up with delinquents like us," she said, smiling. Then her smile faded.

"What?" I asked.

She grimaced a little. "Marco..." She looked at me. She looked worried. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"_Wrong_ with you?" I asked, unable to believe she was asking that. She was smart, funny, and beautiful. What was wrong with that?

She shook her head a little. "Marco... last night, after you left... I heard your dad and Nora in the hall. Your dad said that he can't stand to be in the same room with me."

I almost sighed in relief. "There is _nothing_ wrong with you," I assured her. "There is _less_ than nothing wrong with you. You just look a lot like Mom, that's all."

"No wonder I trust you so much," she said, a little of her smile returning. "Who would ever put a move on a girl who looks like his mother?"

I shook my head. "Do you _really_ hate it when people compliment you?"

She held up her hands in a halting position. "Uh-uh," she said. "That is _not_ what I said. I _said_ that I hate when people decide that a pretty face is enough to ask on a date - especially when it's _my_ pretty face they want, and not my pretty disposition."

"Great," I sighed. She glanced at me skeptically, waiting for the punchline. "_I_ can't get a date for my life, but my counterpart can have her pick of any guy she wants."

"Oh, you know I just want to be with you," she said, resting her head on my shoulder. "Besides, it's seen as a _plus_ when a _girl_ is kind of short." She laughed as she straightened her neck. Almost immediately, though, she frowned. "My major setback was an addition problem. Too many people got it in their heads that my face plus my skin plus my mouth automatically made me some sort of whore. It was like any pretty minority girl who had an attitude had to be easy."

I scowled, but didn't say anything.

"That's why I kind of like it here." I wiped the scowl off my face when she looked at me. "Most of my friends were girls back home. Here, they're guys, and they're actually pretty decent." She snorted. "And Nora is worried that I'm spending too much time with guys."

I waved a little as Gregory, a guy I vaguely knew from my social studies class, walked by in the opposite direction. He stopped. "Hey, Marco, have you seen Meg?"

"Meg?" Maria echoed.

Greg glanced at her, then looked down. See, with Maria, it isn't hard to look at her. It's just hard to look at her, and talk, at the same time, without practice. "Yeah, my mom's going nuts," he said, looking at me again. "I figure she's just at the mall or something."

"Why?" Maria asked.

Greg smiled a little. "That's where I want to be right now. See ya."

I laughed as we kept walking. "It's kind of funny how easy it is to just stop and talk to somebody about a duplicate from another universe, but not our... other... priority."

She nodded in agreement. "It's my turn to buy."

I looked at her. "Huh?"

She smiled. "Lunch. Breakfast. Whatever's being served now. It's my turn to buy, so it's Burger King."

Maria didn't exactly come into our universe loaded with cash: the first time we ate out I bought for both of us. Ever since we've been taking turns. It's sort of a contest - who can buy lunch last. It's kind of a good thing/bad thing, though: whoever has to spend the money gets to pick the place. Sure, we like the exact same stuff, but we have a slight disagreement in what's our favorite. I like McDonald's. Maria likes Burger King.

"You just like Burger King because it's cheaper," I joked. I opened the door, then, bowing, held it for her. She curtseyed before walking in ahead of me. At the second door, she got to bow, and I got to curtsey.

"That's one reason," she replied, just as she always did, "the other being that there's no such thing as McDonald's where I'm from."

I shook my head. "No Star Wars... no McDonald's... no squirrels. You are truly of a deprived universe."

"_We_ have wolfbanes," she retorted, as if that made it all worthwhile.

"Probably the source of _all_ werewolf sightings," I said.

"And most Bigfoot ones, too," she agreed. "Find somewhere to sit. The usual will arrive shortly."

We separated as she got on line, and I claimed a booth. I rested my chin on my fist, just looking at her back as she went through the line.

I was with the most beautiful girl I knew, one who was smart and funny, one who actually _liked_ me, one who didn't tower over me, one who took turns buying lunch.

I felt like the poorest man alive.

Because, no matter what, I knew she was me.

CHAPTER 34

Maria

I received the double order of number fours and brought it to the booth Marco had claimed for us. I slid in beside him, putting the tray in the middle of the table.

"What?" Marco said, sounding surprised. "You give me the honor of being squashed between you and a wall over the blessing of sitting across from me?"

I rested my head on his shoulder, smiling vacantly. "You know I can't stand to be away from you," I told him playfully. He responded by digging his fingers into my ribs. I burst out giggling. "Hey!" I squeaked, trying not to yell. "Didn't we learn _anything_ last night?"

That gained us some not-so-pleasant looks from some other tables - but I was too busy giggling to care.

Morphing is my greatest power, along with my sarcasm and the ability to turn 80% of the human male population's knees into jelly.

Ticklishness is my greatest weakness, along with white chocolate, an allergy to certain mushrooms, and the need to make jokes in the face of adversity, death, or the threat of severe maiming.

Marco grinned, picking up a french fry. "We learned that Dad doesn't want me in your room at three a.m.," he said, aiming the french fry for my mouth. I opened my mouth obligingly, reaching for another fry, which I chucked at him when he tried shoving the fry he was holding up my nose.

"Hey!" he said, chiding me. "None of that! That's how we got kicked out of Taco Bell, remember?"

"You'd think a restaurant with a talking Chihuahua as its spokesperson would have a better sense of humor," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

*

The rest of "brunch" was relatively uneventful, and Marco and I managed to leave Burger King without getting kicked out.

"You bring out the disruptiveness in me," I told him straight-faced as we headed toward the nearest bus stop. "I was so less... delinquent-like before I met you."

"It comes from too much Marconess," he said, nodding seriously. "With only one Marco per timeline, each Marco is limited to innocent jokes and common silliness. Double the amount of Marco, and the Marco falls into a pit of dirty jokes, severe immaturity, and general chaos."

"And tickling," I added, letting the reference of me as a "Marco" slide. Besides, "Marianess" didn't sound as funny as "Marconess".

"Oh, yes," he agreed solemnly. "And _plenty_ of tickling."

We walked passed the bus stop, turning down an alley. "It's a wonder what gets where when universes collide," I commented, pulling off my tee shirt to reveal the black leotard beneath. I shimmied out of my shorts, then took off my sandals. Thusly transformed from "Maria, everyday girl trapped in a parallel universe" to "crazy adolescent posing as an Andalite bandit", I pressed my fingers to the lowermost brick covered with a graffiti of green and yellow scribbles. The entire graffiti pushed inward, to reveal a little, foot-cube space. I shoved my clothes in, and Marco did the same. I ran my hand up the left side of the hole, and its cover slid shut.

"Andalites have technology for everything," Marco said, shaking his head in mock amazement.

"Just a common storage space made out of brick," I said, shrugging. I leaned against the dumpster, hiding myself from view outside the alley. "Now, if we can just figure out how to keep our shoes..."

"Don't remind me," he said, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the dumpster next to me. He had on a tight gray tee shirt and black bike shorts. Even morphing, we make a cool-looking pair. "Let's get going. We're going to be late."

I nodded. Then, closing my eyes, I concentrated.

My arms stretched, my fingers melting away. My nose and lower lip hardened, then started moving closer together, even as my upper lip and all my teeth disappeared. Feathers began sprouting, whole, out of my skin - mostly brown with white in my hair and from my butt. My knees reversed direction as my legs shrank and my toes melted together, gaining claws. My ears and hair retracted into my head. The last change came in my legs, as scales appeared, and the skin grew crisp and yellow.

I opened my eyes again, glaring around the much larger-looking alley with telescope-like eyes. I looked down at the gray bird beside me. Ready, shrimp?

Ready as you are, baldy, the osprey replied in Marco's thought-speak voice. Bad enough Dad's mad at us. Let's get going before Jake _grounds_ us.

CHAPTER 35

Marco

The others waited for Maria and I to demorph before they started talking. "I will _never_ get used to that," Cassie said.

Maria looked at her. "To what?" she asked innocently.

"The synchronized morphing. Bad enough you guys can't control what comes when. Worse when you don't control it, but it still happens in the exact same way."

Maria and I shared a glance, before both looking at Cassie. "What's so wrong with that?" we asked at the same time.

Jake smiled, just slightly. "Actually, Cassie, I'd say that _that's_ more disturbing - the way they even _think_ alike. Bad enough Marco can't control the insanities that come out of his mouth. Worse when Maria joins in."

I glanced at Rachel, to see if she had any comments to add.

She looked at me coldly. "Can we get on with this?" she demanded.

When this first started - when the Jacqueline Rip closed - we thought the biggest adjustment would be getting used to having Maria instead of Ax and Tobias. We were wrong.

It was getting used to having the Rachel we'd had for a month, instead of the Rachel we'd known before.

A month ago, Rachel was our "let's do it!" girl. She was ready and raring to get herself killed to save the world, and take all of us along for the fun.

Now, though, here was a new Rachel. Rachel, the wall. Rachel, the pistol on a hair-trigger. In general life, you couldn't move her, couldn't do much of anything to her, really. You could rip every hair out of her head all at once, and even her scowl wouldn't flinch. In the dozen battles we'd been in, though... Rachel had been burying herself in her morphs. One wrong word, one wrong move, and she would snap. In every single battle, she almost attacked the wrong side, at least once. Every single time, she'd let her morph take over, and nearly mauled one of us instead of the enemy.

Usually, the one she would almost turn on was Maria.

That did not sit well with me.

Needless to say, this new Rachel and I didn't get along too well.

"So," I said, rubbing my hands together, "how do we get killed this time? Take care of weapon disposal, travel time and space, go on a general raid, or just plan an annoyance run?"

Maria pretended to yawn. "Or," she added, sounding bored out of her mind, "are we actually going to risk our necks doing something _original_ for once?"

Jake shook his head. "Hate to disappoint you two," he said, "but this falls under 'general raid'. Our favorite enemies are building a new installation awfully close to a certain valley. Toby wants our help to get rid of the installation, and see if we can catch a few more residents while we're at it."

Since Rachel lost all traces of a sense of humor, and since Tobias's sense of humor is, of course, totally missing - along with Tobias -, Jake has been trying to make up for it. It is extremely obvious that he is trying, and equally obvious that he's failing miserably. Everyone is nice enough not to groan, but not so desperate to please him to actually laugh. Besides, since losing two of our friends, two of the only people we can trust, and getting only one in return, it's been kind of hard for the others to find a reason to laugh.

I'm lucky.

I have Maria to give me a reason.

"Hork-Bajir morphs?" Rachel asked coldly.

"Problem." Maria frowned. "All I have is an Orak-Bajyr morph. No Hork-Bajirs. They're kind of rarer at home - not as rare as Orak-Bajyr are here, but we don't exactly have a run on them, either. Orak-Bajyr are the shock troops. Hork-Bajir are too noticeable to use where I'm from."

"Not a problem," Cassie said. "I'm sure one of the Hork-Bajir in the valley will let you acquire them."

Maria frowned. "I don't know," she said. "Are Hork-Bajir as stubborn as Orak-Bajyr?"

Jake shrugged. "We don't know. Are Orak-Bajyr as simple as Hork-Bajir?"

"No way." Maria shook her head to stress her words. "Orak-Bajyr were the second type of tree-tenders the Arn made. Their programming is exact. No such thing as a Seer in that bunch. They're as simple as a calculator is simple - and I don't mean a graphing calculator. You think a Hork-Bajir is simple? No. Orak-Bajyr are simple."

"So who's the counterpart of Toby?" Cassie asked.

"Tari." She held up her hands. "Let me explain. There's no such thing as a Seer with Orak-Bajyr - but you mix a Hork-Bajir and an Orak-Bajyr... that's like mixing a pocket calculator and a graphing calculator and getting a state-of-the-art PC. Sometimes I'd go so far as to say that's like combining a pencil and a pen and getting a Macintosh. Tari Ari is what we fondly refer to as a 'Hork-Bajyr'. She scares the heck out of me sometimes."

Note of disinterest: though "Bajir" and "Bajyr" may not look very different, "Bajyr" is pronounced with a long "a" sound, like in the word "bay", while the "j" is barely pronounced. It sounds close to the name of that headache medicine, "Bayer", but with a teeny tiny "j" put between the "y" and the "e".

_Bayjer_. Like that.

"Anywho," Jake cut in, getting us back on track. He's started saying "anywho" a lot. It's part of his new "leader-attempting-to-lighten-a-stressful-situation" role. As I've said, it just doesn't suit him. "We go to the valley, get what reinforcements and information Toby wants to give us, get Maria a morph, and do this."

"Sounds like as good a way to die as any," Maria said, nodding agreeably.

"What does?"

We jumped at the still unfamiliar voice.

"Hi, Mrs. ____," Maria grinned. "We were just discussing the best ways to die. My vote is for skydiving without a parachute."

Chris's mother smiled weakly. Maria had explained that Chris's mother has a sort of obsession with keeping the barn neat. It's noticeable - since she became trapped in our universe with Maria and Rich's brother, Sam (and Meg, and Jake's family's car, and half the boxes of cereal in our house, and seven billion other things I could name), the cages have been reorganized to make more room, the stray hay was swept outside... probably other things, too, but not that I noticed without looking for them. Still, it made it feel like a whole different barn.

So, along with getting used to the fact that we're a body short, we've tried to get a little more secure with our normal meeting place, but sometimes we forget.

Maria also had explained that, to cover for various slips of their own, the others had convinced Chris's mother that Maria had a very strange and occasionally twisted sense of humor.

So we were probably safe.

Chris's mother shook her head, but didn't try to reply to that. "How is that wolfbane cub doing?" she asked us.

"He looks good," Cassie replied. She crouched down next to the cage that held the big, wolf-sized baby werewolf. "I think his paw is setting pretty well."

"You guys aren't going to hang out in the barn all day, are you?" Chris's mom asked. "Because, if you are-"

"Nope," I replied quickly, recognizing the possible request for physical labor, "we were just leaving."

"It's summer!" Maria grinned. "Why would we stay here all day?"

"Could you tell my dad that we'll be back later?" Cassie asked.

"No problem, Cass," Chris's mom nodded. She was pretty cool - very laid back and cool about things, even if she was a little too much of a neatnik for my tastes. Unlike Nora with Maria, she never tried to boss Cassie around. Of course, unlike Nora, Chris's mom shares a roof with Cassie's mom and dad. I guess she doesn't feel the need to act as a surrogate mother, since Cassie's mom is here and all.

Still, she's never questioned why any of us would be in the barn in skin-tight almost-nothings, so I won't complain if she's a little finicky about how much hay is on the floor.

The five of us wandered outside, as if we weren't in a hurry to save the world or anything. It was summer. Adults can get suspicious of kids hurrying to do anything in the summer - unless it's to catch afternoon cartoons or something.

"We're going to miss afternoon cartoons," I whined.

"It's okay," Maria assured me, patting my shoulder sympathetically. "They're just repeats, anyway."

I sighed. "And this isn't?"

CHAPTER 36

Maria

We walked out into the woods. I flinched whenever I stepped on, or in, something other than grass. That "something" label included twigs, thorns, mud, and things which I prayed were mud.

_We have to figure out how to morph shoes_.

Marco was doing a lot of flinching, too.

I think we made for a pretty strange group. I mean, my group of Animorphs had been a bit strange to begin with, but I meant _this_ one.

We had Jake, a leader who was trying to fill too many roles. He was trying to pick up the slack Tobias had left, and it just wasn't working for him.

We had Cassie, the animal-and-Jake loving, tree-and-Jake hugging naturalist who was stuck with three veterinarian parents.

Actually, sorry. Cut out the "tree-and-Jake" jibe. She and Jake are so unlike Jack and Chris. Jack and Chris, at least, are a definite couple. Cassie and Jake look like they'll be forever trapped in that awkward stage of "I know, you know, everybody knows, but I don't say anything, you don't say anything, only Maria (or Marco) says anything." That part of any relationship is as awkward as saying the label I have given it. It's stupid. But, I guess, it's inevitable.

One reason I'm glad I have managed to avoid a serious relationship.

We had Rachel, the Stone-Cold Don't-Make-Me-Snap girl. Nothing I do seemed right to her, and nothing I _don't_ do seemed unimportant enough not to point out. It feels like everything I do is under her scrutiny. I'm sorry that it's my fault her boyfriend is trapped where I should be, if he's lucky. I did what seemed right at the time. Taking Tobias's place had totally _not_ been my plan.

I have yet to tell Rachel that.

I like my head where it is. I may not use it much, but it'd be pretty useless to me if it wasn't attached, you know?

Finally, we have Marco and me. It's hard to say "We have Marco... We have me..."... it's just, "Marco and me". It's so natural to think of us that way. We're the skeptics, the jokers, the comedy relief. We're the ones who go directly from point 'a' to 'b', laughing the whole way.

Just the five of us - an overburdoned teenaged old man, a sensitive girl with three parents, an angry girl on the verge of insanity, and the same person in duplicate.

This universe is doomed.

It wasn't long before we were in the air, an even stranger squadron of birds than we made as a human guerilla army. I mean, a peregrine's falcon (sort of like a Killjoy's falcon, but a bit bigger, with more pointed wings, a shorter tail, and no purple-ish-brown feathers to speak of), a couple of ospreys, and a pair of bald eagles? It was kind of funny that Jake was the only one who didn't have a match. Kind of symbolic, too - he was the leader. He was apart.

It was also kind of funny that Marco and Cassie, and Rachel and I, made up the matched pairs, since we had nothing in common. I mean, if Rachel ever fully snaps, the first thing she's going to go for is my throat - and Cassie and Marco? Please.

It took awhile to get to the valley of the Ora- er, Hork-Bajir. Sorry. Where I'm from, a valley a bit more northwest of the one we finally landed in has a total of two Hork-Bajir and about eighty Orak-Bajyr. Hork-Bajir are a rare commodity where I'm from, just as bald eagles are here.

I was still trying to get over the fact that bald eagles were an endangered species. Where I'm from, according to Toniya, they're just pests, bullies, and murderers - depending on her latest run-in with one or three.

We were greeted with quite a crowd of creatures I'm used to seeing singularly, if at all. I felt trapped. Had the others lied? Were they _really_ allies? In spite of the month I had spent in this universe, I'm still able to think like that. Could I _really_ trust these duplicates of my allies at home? Could I trust Jake, Cassie, Rachel? Could I trust Marco?

I couldn't even be sure if I could trust myself.

The others began to demorph, and so did I. There was no reason to _look_ like I suspected them. There was no reason to act as if I weren't what I acted like - one of them.

But I knew I would never be one of them.

I would always be "Marco's duplicate". "Marco's counterpart". "Marco-girl".

At best, I'd always be another Marco.

One of the creatures that was still the height of an Orak-Bajyr stepped forward. "It is good that you could come," it said.

If it talked like that, then it had to be Toby Hamee, what the Hork-Bajir supposedly called a "Seer".

Where I'm from, the Orak-Bajyr and two Hork-Bajir have a different name for Tari Ari, Seia Fel, and Fel Teval - "Both".

That's what they call them - "Both". You ask a Hork-Bajir what Tari Ari is, they will, without fail, reply, "Tari Ari is Both."

I didn't really pay attention as the young Hork-Bajir explained what was necessary. Morphing, caution, avoiding violence, general destruction with minimal casualties... how was it any different from normal? How was this any different from any of the other missions? Okay - I caught two differences. One of those differences was that we were to try to take hostages. Another was that we would have back-up - back-up in the form of four Hork-Bajir. I listened to the details, but I didn't commit them to long-term memory. I mapped out the base as best I could on Toby Hamee's sketchy details, leaving blurry blanks in spaces she didn't know about, a sort-of Etch-a-Sketch blueprint in my head.

"Okay," I said once she was finished briefing us. I rubbed my hands together. "What lucky Hork-Bajir would like to volunteer to shake hands with his-or-herself? Hmm? Come on! Who could miss such a unique opportunity?" The Hork-Bajir looked at each other, as if they didn't understand. I'm pretty sure they did, but I think they were confused by how I had said it. I sighed. "What I mean to say is, I need a Hork-Bajir morph," I said flatly.

"No you don't."

I looked at Toby Hamee. "Why not? It's been a month. I've seen maybe a dozen Orak-Bajyr."

Toby nodded. "I know. But that has changed." She frowned slightly. "There are a different kind of Hork-Bajir at this new base. They are shorter. Their blades are longer. They have at least four horns here." She motioned toward her own head.

I nodded. "That's Orak-Bajyrs, all right." Then I frowned. "But why haven't we seen many until now? How come it's always been Hork-Bajir?"

Toby shook her head. "We don't know. We hope to find that out, by freeing some of them."

I shook my own head. "Forget it. Toby, no offense meant to anybody, but your fellow Hork-Bajir are geniuses compared to Orak-Bajyrs. The Orak-Bajyrs have the sentience of wolfba- of... of gorillas. Incapable of speech. Incapable of much harder math besides one plus one equals baby and blade plus flesh equals blood. Your only hope of getting anything out of an Orak-Bajyr is if you have a Both."

"A Both?" Marco echoed, frowning.

"A Both," I replied. "A mix of Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr. Your counterpart is a Both," I told Toby. "Tari Ari is a Both." I sighed. "There's no such thing as Seers, in my universe. Your people don't have a word for it. The equivalent is the rare occurrence when Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr cross-breed. If you ask an Orak-Bajyr what one of those half-breeds are, they just duck their head and toss it to the left. If you ask a Hork-Bajir, they'll say, 'they are both'. So we call them Boths. There's three in my universe - Tari Ari, whom I assume is your counterpart, and a couple of twins - Seia Fel, and Fel Teval."

Toby's frown increased. "It disturbs me," she said quietly, addressing us Animorphs as a whole. "You have told me of the anomaly which has taken Tobias and Aximili from us, and has brought Maria here."

"We thought it be kind of a favor to explain why there were two of me," Marco grinned. Inwardly, I cringed.

Toby nodded a little. "That I understand. But what I do not understand is that we saw nothing of that nature here."

"No offense," I began, "but..."

"We _would_ notice a change in the trees," Toby said, a little coldly. "We would notice if the lake changed, or the caves, or each other. _I_ would notice. But nothing did. The trees have remained unchanged, as have our numbers. We were immune."

"Maybe whatever the Ellimist did to make this valley protected you," Cassie suggested.

"The who?" I asked.

"You have never heard of the Ellimist?" Rachel sneered. She sounded as if she was asking me why I'd gotten five when I added two plus two. That girl really, really hates me.

"The Ellimist is the one who made this valley," Jake said. "He's - they're - whatever - the one - or ones - who gave Tobias back his power to morph, sent us off to the planet of the Iskoort, and generally made our lives even more interesting than they already are."

"Oh. I know who you're talking about - just not by that name." 

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Are we going to do this?"

Once upon a time, Rich's part in the group - way back when he _was_ part of the group - was to be the one who was raring to go, to mark the beginning of a mission with his trademark cry of, "Let's do it!" My part was to be the one to point out the insanity of his enthusiasm.

I hadn't see any of that "Let's do it!" spirit in Rachel. Instead of "Let's do it!", she was always saying, "Are we going to do this?", as if we were chicken. As if we _couldn't_ do it. As if she was the _only_ one who could possibly stand against the odds. Sometimes, I was _really_ tempted to hate that girl.

But then, I always thought of Tobias and Toniya, and dropped the thought from my mind.

It was my fault.

Without question, whatever had happened to them was completely my fault.

I had lost Toniya.

I had tried to fix my mistake, and I only made it worse. I tried to rescue Toniya, but instead put Tobias in the same position. Instead of losing one friend, I had lost two.

Or I had lost one twice.

It depended on how you looked at it.

No matter which perspective you preferred, the fact remained: it was my fault.

Mine.

"Maria." I looked at Marco. He looked a little worried. "Coming?"

I nodded. "Let's do it," I replied, grinning as best I could. I kept grinning even as Marco groaned and Rachel gave me a cold, cold glare.

Interlude

On a deserted island about a mile out to sea, rough trees and stubborn grass were all that grew. Everyday, new trash washed onto the shore, bringing seagulls to fight with the rats that had long ago claimed the island, and its trash, for themselves. It was ironic, in a way, how these creatures depended so much on the trash, and the half-rotted food and bugs it brought, that so many people fought to keep out of the water. If naturalists had their way, the entire rat population on the island would die, except what few might be able to survive the mile to shore.

The irony was lost to every inhabitant but one, a rat other rats knew to fear. The irony that he was feared here, when he'd been such a source of ridicule in another time, in so many places, was another constant pain.

Funny how life hated him so much. He'd just started to get over the grudge he had on those losers, getting him stuck like this. Now, he didn't have to go to school. He could eat as much as he wanted, go to bed when he wanted. There was nothing good on TV anyway: it was all trash. Trash, more so than what he lived on now. From one trash to another, that was all it was.

Then he had to go and "run into" them again, and what do they do?

They wreck the mood by _locking him in a cage_.

Him! Wasn't it enough that they put him in _this_ cage? They had to put him into a _literal_ cage, too! The jerks!

He'd show them. He would. He knew, someday, they'd regret everything they'd done to him.

He also knew he was just deluding himself, but who cared? It got him up in the morning. That was what mattered.

He was alive. He planned to stay that way. Screw you, life, I'm going to live.

He snarled at the rat he'd named Marco, because it thought it was so smart. All of them had rat counterparts, some more than one. Jake was the big rat he'd ripped half the tail off of that one time. Rachel was that mean female rat who got so sweet when she wanted to get laid. Cassie was the name he used interchangeably for those four that hung out together, cowering from everybody, only foraging when they were all together, too scared and weak to do anything alone. Tobias was a name for two different rats that were always trying to eat each other, and all the other rats, for that matter. And, of course, Marco, the idiot rat whose dumb luck was all that kept it alive, considering everything else about it was just as dumb as its luck.

And him. David. They made for such a lovely family.

He bit into the soggy, salty hamburger bun. Probably Burger King, he guessed. Either that, or Wendy's. Junk food often washed up, though usually it was a bag of chips, or a greasy wrapper, or something else that'd blown off some rich ass's boat. Sometimes, though, something good would wash up, and he made sure it was always his.

Sure, there were problems here. Water hawks, like ospreys, liked to come here and feast on stupid rats. There had once been six Cassies - now there were four. Three other rats had been named Marco, and he was sure he'd have to find a fifth soon. There were others, with other names, but they were all gone now. Because they were stupid. Stupid, just like the idiots he'd named them after.

Marco squealed, and ran, as a shadow passed overhead. Seagull. He'd learned quickly how to tell the seagull shadows from the hawks. That was what helped him be so tough here. He was smart enough to know that not all overhead shadows were dangerous. He knew when he had to run for cover and when he was safe. Morons. They ran at anything.

Another shadow. This one wasn't a seagull. He bolted for cover.

But not fast enough.

The last thing he remembered was seeing Marco go for the remains of the hamburger bun.

What a creep.

Just like Marco.

CHAPTER 37

Marco

In too short a time, four Hork-Bajir and five birds of prey met up just outside what looked like a silo someone had stepped on - it was circular in shape, with the same sort of roof, but only one story tall. In an even shorter amount of time, nine Hork-Bajir and one creature, one I assumed was an Orak-Bajyr, were watching for an opening to get in.

While we waited, I tried to get a good picture of what an Orak-Bajyr looked like by looking at Maria. For one thing, it was shorter than a Hork-Bajir, by almost a foot. The blade at the end of its tail was smaller, too, as were the two horns that grew from its head. Three more horns, like those from its head, grew down the long, serpentine neck. The hands were almost human-like, with five fingers, but with sharp claws instead of the last joint. The feet had four toes lined up normally, and one on the back of the heel. A double row of spines grew from its back. The blades from its elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles were longer, but thinner.

You look like a walking buzzsaw, I told Maria.

So says the walking Salad Shooter from Hell, she retorted, peering through the leaves. Damn! Please, would one of you assure me that you have better eyesight than I do?

I blinked, but had to shake my head. I could say it, but that wouldn't make it true.

A simple 'no' would have been good.

Knock it off, Rachel snapped at us.

Xena's getting restless, Marco teased her.

Do you have any idea how glad I am we don't have that show? I muttered. I'd seen an episode. It made no sense. A lady in leather armor who screamed and beat up bad people by doing totally unnecessary gymnastics and tossing a metal frisbee. Whoop dee do.

No McDonald's... no _Star Wars_... no squirrels... no Xena...

I know, Marco, I know. I am of a deprived universe.

Either that, or a Catholic school.

I made my Orak-Bajyr mouth smile. It wasn't easy. Even Catholic schools have squirrels.

They do?

Can it, you two, Jake said, in a much kinder tone than Rachel. I think we have a window. Pei Nelin, Cassie, Bec Worul, Rachel, you guys with me. Marco, Maria, Gel Falla, Resi Gavir, you follow as soon as there's another window. We meet at that generator Toby told us about.

We get it! Maria snapped at him. Go through the window before it closes already!

Jake looked at her for a moment, blinking in surprise, then ran into the open, followed by four other Hork-Bajir.

Sometimes, Maria said, he talks too much.

Leaders are supposed to do all the talking, I replied. While people like us are supposed to interrupt them, and remind them that they have other things to do.

No wonder I love my job, she said wryly.

We waited, relatively quiet, for about ten minutes, then ran in when it looked like the coast was clear. This is totally freaky, Maria muttered as we slowed into a brisk march. The four of us held Dracon beams, lent to us by the Hork-Bajir, in our hands, like the other border patrols. So long as we kept formation, we should be okay.

Why? I asked. I looked around as best as I could without turning my head. There's not that many Orak-Bajyrs around.

That's why, she replied, sounding concerned. I'm used to it being the other way around. This many Hork-Bajir makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don't think there were this many Hork-Bajir on the mothership. When Visser Three killed Arbron, he had seven or eight watch the perimeter - that was the most Hork-Bajir I've seen in one place, except on the mothership. He must've been showing off for Arbron's sake.

I referred to the Etch-a-Sketch-like map I'd doodled in my brain, formed from the sketchy details Toby Hamee had been able to give us. We have to go right, here, I told the others.

Right here, or right, here? Maria teased me.

Both, I replied. The four of us turned around the corner of a building. We were in. Now, if we go down this way, we should come to-

Marco.

What?

Don't get ahead of our friends, she replied. And I know. You don't have to tell me, or confuse them.

Oh. I was quiet.

Duh. She had an Etch-a-Sketchy map, too.

She was me.

We kept going, down the path we were on, then turned left at a still-in-construction shack, one with only three walls and no roof. A pair of Taxxons were wrestling to get the fourth to stand upright, while an Orak-Bajyr frowned, watching. At first I thought it was a Hork-Bajir, because it was as tall as one, but then I saw that it had four horns, not three.

Maria glanced at them, then jerked her head forward. Marco!

What?

That Orak-Bajyr. I know him!

You do?

That's Fel Teval, one of the Both! She raised her tail, then shifted it left.

The Orak-Bajyr glanced up, tilting his head to the side. Then his eyes widened. "Work, here, do," he growled out. He joined our marching band. "You one?" he growled under his breath. "You here. No go when stop, now?"

I thought you said these things were brilliant! I snapped.

Just because they're smart doesn't mean they can talk very well, Maria retorted.

Fel Teval looked at me oddly. His eyes were eerie - direct and unblinking. "No yell," he murmured softly. "I come. Yeerk no know of Both."

The Both don't let us morph them, Maria grumbled. They don't think we could control them. But I wish I could - _they_ can see passed the length of their snouts.

We now walked in a group of five, with Fel Teval in between the rest of us. We soon met up with the others at the generator we'd come to blow up.

Yep. Nice and simple this time.

A little pyrotechnics, then grab as many stragglers as we could, and run.

It never goes as easy as it should, and considering how easy this one seemed, it was sure to go wrong.

At least, that was my experience.

Who's number five? Jake asked as we joined his group behind the generator.

A friend, Maria replied. Fel Teval is a Both. I don't know if he's telling the truth about not being a Controller, but I think it'll be safe to let him tag along so long as he stays quiet. And it's probably a good idea to snag him anyway - the Hork-Bajir seem to be lacking in the geniuses.

Agreed, Jake said, nodding slightly.

"Ah. Boom. Good." Fel Teval smiled, if vaguely, and knelt down next to a panel. He pulled it open, and began fiddling with the wires inside.

Geniuses? Rachel echoed snidely.

Hey, speech impediments may make people sound stupid, but it doesn't make them stupid, Maria snapped. Orak-Bajyr can't talk, period. Hork-Bajir barely can. You expect a mix of the two to sound like a grad of Harvard?

Knock it off, you two, Cassie said, stepping slightly forward. If either moved toward the other, they'd now have to go through Cassie. Then she turned around. Fel, what are you doing?

"Come, boom, yes?" he replied shortly. "Boom, yes, soon."

We're taking hostages, Maria told him.

"Take? Good. Know, take, yes. Seia Fel, no, Tari Ari, yes."

Here?

"Yes, Tari Ari here. Find?"

I'll find her, Maria volunteered immediately. I know what she looks like. Is she a Controller?

"No know." It would have sounded like a denial, except for his disturbed tone of voice, and the odd half-shrug. "Find. Take. Help Tari Ari."

The Boths are extremely close, Maria told us privately. We called them collectively, 'The Triumvirate.' Tari Ari, the brainstormer, Seia Fel, the planner, and Fel Teval, the do-er.

I'll go as back-up, I offered.

Jake nodded. Cassie, you go too. We'll make sure Fel finishes up here.

What _are_ you doing, anyway, Fel? I asked.

"Boom," he replied easily. Then he turned around. "Go, find," Fel urged us, looking at us with those staring, eerie eyes. But now, his once direct gaze was softened by obvious worry. When worry is obvious in such a vicious face, you know there's an awful lot of it. "Find Tari Ari."

We'll try, Maria promised. Come on, you guys. We turned to go.

"Ten," Fel called, then turned back to his work.

Ten minutes to find Tari Ari, Maria muttered. Great.

How do you know he meant ten minutes? I asked.

If it's ten seconds... well, it couldn't have been, or else it's already up. If it's ten hours, we're going to have a little problem, aren't we? She frowned. It's going to be hard to search this entire place in ten minutes without calling some attention to ourselves.

Remorph, Cassie suggested. If we use raptor morphs, we can search the entire compound fast.

But we can't exactly do anything if we do, I pointed out.

Cover me, Maria told us. I know what Tari Ari looks like - you don't. I can tell her from other Hork-Bajyr. I'll scout around, see if I see her, then direct you two to get to her and drag her out. She crouched down, ducking into a half-finished shed. Cassie and I stood shoulder to shoulder, facing outward. Say she's suspected of being a spy or something, Maria suggested. I heard an ugly _squirsh_ sound behind me.

Three minutes passed. Nobody seemed to think it was strange that two Hork-Bajir were guarding an unfinished shed. Done yet? I asked.

Just about. Stay there a couple seconds more... I'm out! There was a fluttering sound, and a small osprey flew upward.

Hey! Since when did you have an osprey morph?

Maria giggled. Since I decided that osprey was too small for my tastes. She caught a thermal, zooming out of sight of my lame Hork-Bajir eyes. Looking... looking... I feel like one of those search programs that have to tell you they're checking for things. Any idea how much time we've got left?

Do either of us look like an Andalite to you? How would we know how much time's left?

We've been in Hork-Bajir morph for awhile now, Cassie pointed out.

Great. Maria, any luck?

No pressure, right, Marco? I see about a hundred Hork-Bajir here, maybe twenty-five Orak-Bajyr. About one-to-four ratio here. Where'd they all come from?

I don't know. Maybe Visser Three needed to test loyalties for the new hosts.

Or maybe he needed to test the hosts out, and see how good they were. This she said in a growl. I kept silent, deciding it best not to answer that. The nice thing about Tari Ari is that she's short like a Orak-Bajyr, so it narrows it down to one fifth of the things I'm looking at. Okay... there's Fel Teval and the others. They're doing what you guys did - standing shoulder to shoulder blocking traffic and curious eyes. With that many 'guards', others are steering clear of them. I'm not seeing Tari... I'm getting nervous here. Where can she be hiding? Do they _know_ about her?

Just keep looking, Cassie told her. We're not out of time yet.

I feel so... so wrong. This was Toniya's job. This was Tobias's job, too, wasn't it? Airborne surveillance? Because of me, we don't know what happened to either of them.

Maria? I was getting a pit in my stomach. She really _did_ sound nervous up there - _extremely_ nervous. Get a grip. This isn't the time to feel guilty. Just find the Both so we can get out of here.

I'm looking, I'm looking. There was a pause. I hate this. I'm seeing familiar faces. It's like... I don't know, Shindler's list. Who to live and who to die. That's Vehu. And Ral. And Iuhl. But no Tari. Damn it, Tari, where _are_ you? There was another pause. Oh, great. I think Fel finished whatever he was doing, because the others are splitting into two groups and heading in opposite directions. I think we're almost out of time. I'm telling you, I am _really_ star- oh, _shit!_

What? Cassie demanded.

Found Tari. About three hundred yards northeast of you guys. She just peeked out of a shed, and a whole bunch of Hork-Bajir grabbed her. Listen - I'm going to remorph. They're headed your way. At least one of you stick with them, I'm going to battle morph. There ain't _no_ way I'm leaving Tari here!

She said 'at least one', I told Cassie privately. Got straws to draw?

Cassie frowned. Gorilla or wolf, which do you think could do more damage?

Wolf is faster.

Okay. You have spy duty. Cover me.

I'm covering so many girls... jeez, there's a dirty joke in there somewhere.

Cassie chuckled as she ducked into the unfinished shed. Don't start.

I waited impatiently for Cassie to demorph and remorph. Around one of the finished sheds, a half dozen Hork-Bajir dragged what looked like an Orak-Bajyr with three horns and talons that were too short. The Orak-Bajyr was conscious: it just had its legs and tail limp, so that their legs and tail dragged heavily on the ground, making it more difficult to move them. They didn't struggle: they just didn't help, either.

I stepped forward, giving Cassie room to get out. "What happen here?" I asked the first Hork-Bajir.

"Find _gehltra_ hiding," it replied curtly. "Ta-ai!" It screamed as a wolf suddenly clamped its powerful jaws on its lower leg.

The other Hork-Bajir looked quickly. The Orak-Bajyr looked too, and frowned a little. Then it got its feet underneath it and snapped its tail up and sideways, slitting one of the Hork-Bajir's necks in half. The Hork-Bajir fell. "Run!" it cried, swinging a bladed arm into another Hork-Bajir's chin. "Home!"

I stepped forward, as if to help, then grabbed one of the Hork-Bajir by the horns and pulled down, forgetting my knees bent the wrong way. Lacking anything better to do, I twisted, pulled up, and flipped the Hork-Bajir over my shoulder. I got an elbow blade in the shoulder as it went over, but hey, a cool move is worth a little scratch.

One of the remaining Hork-Bajir pulled out its Dracon beam.

I don't _think_ so.

I looked.

Cassie looked.

The Hork-Bajir looked.

We all looked... at the werewolf.

CHAPTER 38

Maria

I had a puny wolf and four Hork-Bajir staring at me.

Oh, please, I sneered. Hasn't anybody heard of a wolfbane before? I reached out with one frying-pan sized, half-paw, half-hand, and grabbed a Hork-Bajir. I guess they're not used to seeing things their height, because the look of surprise never left its face as it went down hard. Tari, if you're you, you'll understand when I carry you out of here. I grabbed the Both behind the neck, pressing my short thumb and heavy, clawed finger to the sides of her neck. Her eyes rolled up, and her head lolled over.

What'd you do to her? Marco asked as the other two Hork-Bajir ran.

Orak-Bajyr version of the Vulcan nerve pinch. Except it's more of an artery-to-the-brain pinch. I heaved the Both to my shoulder. Shall we go?

We shall, Marco agreed. In fact, I can't think o-

I felt blistering heat through my thick pelt before some huge, unseen hand hurled me through the air. The next thing I knew, I was about a hundred yards away with a broken arm and no Both. Wh-what?

The generator must have blown! Cassie cried. Where am I?

I couldn't see anything, either. My arm burned. Wait - no, my _fur_ burned. Fire! I shoved on whatever was weighing me down. It groaned, and so did I. Wait... was my arm broken, or dislocated? If it was just dislocated, I could maybe... no, I couldn't move that far. I brought up my hind legs, getting them in on the action. With three paws I heaved, and the flat slab of concrete - part of the outer casing of the generator, I think - fell away. I patted at the singed parts of my fur, then shoved my arm back into the _correct_ part of my shoulder socket. Marco! Cassie! Where are you?

Cassie's over here, Marco replied grimly. I looked around: several Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr were running around. Some stopped to look at me, then decided there were more important things than a singed wolfbane that was just standing around stupidly. I walked over to the one Hork-Bajir that wasn't running. Hope you're Marco.

I hope you're not a wolfbane, Marco replied. I can't lift this. He gestured to another slab of concrete. I think Cassie's under there, but I can't lift it.

On three, I told him, crouching down. He crouched as well. Two pairs of very different hands - one with talons, another claws, one scaly and one heavily furred - gripped the slab. I glanced at him, he glanced at me, and we both lifted it up.

Sometimes it's good to be in synch with somebody else.

Marco ducked his head; my neck was too short to be of much use beyond looking left and right and down at a very different angle. I don't see her...

I see light, Cassie said. Her voice was getting weaker. It's to my... um... right? Or maybe my other right...

Hang on there, Cass, I told her sharply. I sniffed the air. I smelled fire, concrete, paint, metal. Lots of metal. I needed fur smell. Come on, Maria! Fur! What else besides you and Cassie has fur in this stupid place?

Fur. Left. Forward.

She's to our left. The scent's faint.

Thank you, Wondernose. Do you think you can hold this on your own?

No problem.

Going in. I winced as the weight all went to me, but I didn't let go. Marco crawled under the slab. I see her! A little of her, anyway. Just a... oh! Oh-! Oh _fuck_!

What's wrong?!

Oh, Jesus, oh... oh yuck.

Marco, what is it?

I went to pull Cassie out by the tail and found out her tail isn't attached.

Oh-! I shut up before I started cursing too. I could too easily imagine that. Is she under there, or just her tail?

No, she's under here. I need you to lift this higher.

_Higher_? Marco, someone's going to wonder about me soon!

Just do it!

I groaned as I shoved against the heavy slab. I wedged my uninjured shoulder under it. Marco, you'd better hurry up. I can't stand here forever, and this is seriously heavy.

I got her. Okay, I got her - the _rest_ of her. Oh, jeez, you just don't get used to tails coming off.

Wait - did you say coming _off_?

Well, it _looked_ attached.

Oh. Marco slid out from under the concrete, a bundle of gray under one arm. I happily dropped the concrete, then looked around. What about Tari Ari?

Forget it. Marco lifted Cassie into his arms. There's no way we'll find her in this mess. Let's just get out of here. Cassie has to demorph, pronto, and, as you pointed out, you can't stand around forever.

But- I cut myself off, and started running. This wasn't the time for "buts". "Buts" got people killed.

It wasn't my day to die.

At least, I was praying it wasn't.

Then I stopped. Marco was trying to find the best way to carry Cassie's limp wolf body. Marco, give Cassie to me. I can carry her the best way possible.

He stopped, holding her out. How's that?

Just like Mommy would. I held Cassie in two paw/hands, lifted her up with her back to me, and bit her scruff.

Oh, come on, you can't-

Shut up and run. I dropped to all fours, my injured shoulder screaming "MORON!" at me. I kept a tight grip on Cassie's scruff and ran, my stubby tail stiff behind me. Marco ran too, keeping up with me now that I was carrying Cassie and he wasn't.

TSSSSEW!

I yelped as a Dracon beam singed my injured shoulder. Just great! I shouted at Marco. _Now_ they notice the seven foot tall werewolf!

Just keep running, he snapped, ducking another weaponsfire. If we can get to the woods, we should be home free. Just morph small.

Still with us, Cass? I asked her.

I'm getting motion sick, she muttered in a slurred voice, but in a good way.

She's out of it, I told Marco. We have to get her to safety, fast.

We're working on it, aren't we? he replied. Just keep running!

We started dodging in an odd, synchronized way - both of us dodging right, left, sprinting forward, dodging right, right again... always, the same way. You know those flocks of blackbirds that collect in the fall, the ones that fly in swarms so tightly packed you wonder how they don't crash into each other? That was what it was like. Even dodging, sprinting in spurts, and generally making the run back to the woods twice as long, we remained right next to each other.

It just made us a bigger target.

I felt, numbly, an agony in my left side. My left back foot was just _gone_. As I fell, I threw back my head and opened my jaws, tossing Cassie into the air. Marco, catch her and keep going!

He caught her, but he stopped. Maria, I can'-

I don't care, just _run_!

Mar-

I won't kill any more of us! I shouted at him, snarling out loud. _GO_!

He stared at me a moment, then bolted.

I lowered my head with a whine.

I felt the pain growing, and my consciousness fading.

I hurt so bad....

Good luck, Marco...

CHAPTER 39

Marco

I waited.

Tari Ari managed to catch up with the others as they ran. Now she, Fel Teval, and eight other Hork-Bajir the others had managed to capture were being guarded in caves - four Hork-Bajir in one, four in another, and Tari Ari and Fel Teval in a third. Toby Hamee placed herself in charge of watching over the Both. She talked with them, patient with their odd, broken sentences.

The others went home almost immediately, but I stayed behind. I sat with Toby Hamee and the Both, trying to understand, but mostly just wanting to stay out of the way of the Hork-Bajir outside. It was cold in the cave, and I couldn't really understand either of the Both, but they didn't kick me out, so I just sat there.

I sat there for what felt like days, but what was probably only about three hours, before there was a commotion outside. Without a word I bolted out of the cave, into the cool of afternoon.

I could have hugged the three-footed werewolf until its guts burst out. "Maria!" I shouted.

She looked at me with dark, glittering eyes. Hey, Corko, fancy meeting you here. Where's everybody else?

"They went home," I replied.

Cassie?

"She's fine. A little freaked, but nothing new."

She sighed, falling on her right side. That's good. How's my time?

I frowned. "What?"

My time. How long has it been? How long have I been in morph?

I felt myself turning to stone from the inside out. "You... you never demorphed?"

She looked up at me, annoyed. Marco, how long have I been in morph? Do you know, or don't you?

I tried to get my almost-stone tongue to work. "Three hours, I think."

She sighed. Good.

"_Good_?!" I shouted at her. She looked at me in surprise. "_GOOD?!_"

What's your problem?

"You're stuck as a three-footed werewolf and it's _GOOD_?!"

Stuck? Why would I be stuck?

"You've been in morph more than two hours!"

So?

"_SO?!_"

Marco, chill out! Her snout began to change color, lightening to a paler brown. My jaw must have hit the ground. I probably still have at _least_ half an hour.

"Half an..." It took a moment to get my mouth to work properly again, but almost a full minute to get my brain back in gear. "How long is your morph limit?"

Same as yours, probably.

"Humor me."

Wait... yours is only two hours? Her ears twitched down the sides of her head, and her claws retracted into her hands.

I nodded, unable to believe what was happening. Only a moment ago, I was sure she'd been trapped. Now here she was, demorphing. Demorphing! She was coming back!

We can use thought-speak out of morph, and you can't... Maria's newly returned mouth frowned. I guess the morphing technology is just generally better where I'm from. We have a four hour limit - which is weird, because Toniya could swear she wasn't in morph four hours when she got stuck.

I just stared at her, as her hair returned to full length and the last of her fur melted away. She stood there in her black leotard, twigs in her hair, which had lost its ponytail, so that it fell over her shoulders. She looked at me, frowning a little. "Marco, are you okay?"

"I-" I was tongue-tied. I'm never tongue-tied. I stepped forward, just to hug her, just to know that she was still real.

I kissed her.

I hadn't planned to - I hadn't wanted to! - she was _me_! But I put one arm around her waist one way, the other around the other, closed my eyes, and _I kissed her_.

For a moment, just a moment, all was well.

Then she shoved away, her eyes wide. Her hands went to her mouth, covering it, as if to see if I was still there. "Oh my God," she whispered. "Oh my God..."

I stared at her. Had I just _done _that? She was _me_! She was _me_! _Me_!

I turned away, closing my eyes again. What had I _done_?!

"M-Marco..."

"No," I snapped. "No, that-" What was I _supposed_ to say? I hadn't _meant_ to? It didn't _mean_ anything? It was an _accident_?

"Marco, you _know_ w-we can't-"

I turned around again. It was my turn to stare at her. "You-"

She looked like she was about to cry. Her hands still half-covered her face. "I thought you were always joking," she said softly.

"So did I."

"Marco, we can't-"

"I know."

"What-"

"That I _don't_ know."

She sniffed, lowering her hands. She tried to smile and failed miserably. "I thought opposites were supposed to attract."

"Now I'm wishing they did."

She nodded, but didn't answer.

CHAPTER 40

Maria

"Is Rachel home?"

Sam looked at me funny. "You're Jackie's friend."

I cringed a little. Jack's friends called her Jack, but her family called her Jackie (except for Rich, who was more a friend anyway... at least for awhile). Either way, just thinking about her hurt. "Yeah, I'm Jackie's friend," I agreed. "Can I see Rachel?"

"She's in her room. You can find it." He walked away, leaving the door open for me.

Sam had always been a pest.

"Thanks," I muttered, letting myself in and closing the door behind me. At a guess, I started the staircase.

I had it all figured out. Marco's dad didn't want me there because I reminded him too much of his "deceased" wife, and Marco... well, it just wasn't a good idea that we live together anymore. Sam was a pain in the butt, and he was stuck living in a house of all girls. What could be more perfect? Sam goes live with Marco, I live with Rachel's family. I was sure it'd work out.

Forget the parents. I was sure they'd agree sooner or later.

I just had to convince _Rachel_ that it was a good idea.

I tried the first door - nope, it was a girl's room converted into a boy's. Definitely Sam's room. If all worked out, a room to be my room. I tried the second door, which was on the other side of the hall - Rachel's sister, Jordan, gave me a funny look. I apologized and shut the door. Now I knew where I was going - I went to the next door on the same side of the hall as Jordan's room and threw it open. Rachel was sitting at her desk, her back to me. "Just listen before you turn around," I snapped. "I'm sorry about Tobias. I am. I don't know what happened to him, or Toniya. It's my fault. I know it is. If I hadn't lost my grip on Toniya, I would have- I wouldn't-" I choked. "Rachel, it's all my fault. I know that's what you think, and I want you to know you're right. I would do anything to change that, but I can't. I can't. Not any more than you can."

A door opened, and Rachel walked out of the bathroom behind it. "I know, Maria," she said quietly. "You don't have to tell me what I know. But I think you'll want to sit down for what _we_ have to tell _you_."

"First, I have to as-" I stopped. I looked at her, then at the blond head in the desk chair, then back at Rachel. "Am I missing something?"

"Nope," the blonde in the chair replied. "You're not missing anything. But I think we're going into reruns."

"What?"

The girl turned in her chair. She scowled at me. "I hate reruns."

It took all I had in me to stumble to Rachel's bed and sit down. "No way. You went back!"

"I went back, yeah, but I didn't stay there. I think our WonderPlan went bad."

"What are you doing _here_?"

"You and Marco weren't home, and I don't feel like dealing with Jake because Jack and I haven't been getting along for awhile. Cassie's a little bit out of my way, and, last I looked, the happy Andalite family is still back in my universe, so I kind of ran out of options, you know?"

"_What_?"

"Tobias and Toniya are fine," Rachel said. "When you appeared here, Tobias got stuck in your dimension. He's safe - just not here."

I sighed, folding over, resting my forehead on my knees. Safe! Both of them safe!

One less thing to worry about.

I sat up straight again: that was hardly my only problem.

"Rachel," I began, "there's another problem that I-"

"Don't you get it?" the other blonde yelled at me, jumping out of the chair. "Maria, I'm _back_! I'm HERE!"

"Diane," I snapped, "there's other things on my mind right now."

She grabbed me, shaking me. "Maria, forget it, because whatever it is, it isn't important!" She shook me even harder. "_Don't you get it?! The Rip is open again!_"

__

_to be continued...._


	7. Default Chapter Title

The Animorphs _Dementia_ Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....

We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.

But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.

The _Dementia_ Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.

The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....

Things have come full circle. First, Jacqueline appeared at Jake's bedroom door, claiming his bedroom as her own. Then the Animorphs managed to seal the Jacqueline Rip between their universes, at the cost of Tobias and Maria spending a month in the wrong dimensions. Now, something has happened: unbeknownst to any of them, David has died, which has re-opened their temporary fix. Now, they must seal it for good.

...but is it _really_ up to them?

I hope you enjoy The _Dementia_ Cycle.

Animorphs **_Dementia_** #7 - The Conclusion

__

Long before....

I saw her. I knew that, with my huge wings, I had way more advantage in the cool air, but I also had an idea of how stubborn Jack was. I kept flying. It was a pretty strange race: a little Killjoy's falcon chasing a huge golden eagle through the evening air.

I had no real plan. Just fly. I just had to keep flying.

You've been a long time in that morph, Jack, I called to her, but I knew it was useless. Better demorph.

Not as long as you've been in your morph, Diane.

I guess you're right. I was looking for the right place to do this. But I guess I'll have to take whatever comes up. I started my decent. A moment later, she followed. I fluttered to a landing in some air conditioning equipment. Jack turned a quick circle over the roof, as if looking for something, then glided to a landing a good distance away from me.

I began to demorph. A few moments later, Jack did, too. I began to remorph. So did Jack.

"All right, Di," she said. "You want this fight? You can have this fight."

The muscles packed onto my body as red-orange and black fur grew all over her. The mane bushed out from my short hair as her tail grew. She fell on all fours as my ears traveled up the sides of my face and my nose grew huge. My tail sprouted behind me as her feet grew to full size. I felt the lion's instincts coming, but I shoved them down. I didn't need them. I had plenty of anger. That was enough for me.

She was out for revenge. So was I. This would be a good fight.

It was obvious that Jack wasn't restraining herself so much. She sniffed the air. I crawled out of the pile, standing still, waiting for her to face me.

I was fifty feet away when her crystalline-green eyes looked into mine. The breeze ran through my thick mane. I swished my tail disdainfully. You never answered me, Jack, I sneered. Lion verses tigress. Who _do_ you think will win?

Let's find out, she replied.

She hadn't even finished retorting before I was sprinting right for her, my belly to the ground, staying low. I bared my teeth, prepared for her throat in my jaws. But she crouched down to my level, taking my speed. My teeth scraped her ear, which was where her throat had been. She twisted, going for _my_ throat, just as I'd gone for hers, but that move was no good - unlike her, my throat wasn't bare. I had a nice, thick mane to protect my arteries. Aaaarrrggghhh! she yelled, as I chomped down on her shoulder. She twisted, but it only made the wound worse. Fool! She rolled on her back, exposing her belly. I let go, darting in for the kill, but she was too quick. She pulled her back legs in and kicked.

I never saw what hit me - instead, I was looking behind me as my head snapped back. My nose! Shredded. I couldn't smell a thing but my own blood.

She leaped to her feet, fast as only a cat is fast, but she didn't have any advantage there. The moment she was on her feet again I slammed a huge paw against the side of her skull with enough power to snap a human in two. She leaped blindly, barely avoiding my teeth.

Suddenly we were circling, just circling, our heads next to each other, tails spasming, just waiting for the other to move first, to expose their throat, to die.

My main advantage was my mane. She had to get around that for my throat. We were about equal on speed. She had size and weight over me.

We stared, eye to eye, electricity crackling. This was like no fight I had ever fought before. This was power. This, truly, was power.

When I couldn't stand the power anymore, I charged. We hit shoulder-to shoulder, and rolled. Suddenly, I realized where we were, and jumped clear.

She leaped to her feet immediately, but she didn't find it easy. I was on gravel, but I'd gotten _her_ on the skylight. Her claws screeched against the glass. She looked down. In that moment she put her guard down, I leaped. She couldn't move: walking on the glass was as good - as useless - as walking on ice. She was trapped. The look on her face told me she knew it. I struck her, my teeth almost reaching their target, when she jerked aside, just a little. Once again I slammed into her, but this time, the ground - the glass - gave out. With an earsplitting shatter, it splintered and broke from our combined weights, plunging us into the mall.

The next few moments were a blur of snarls and swipes, lunges and roars, as we raced to finish each other off before we hit the ground.

Then my teeth struck home.

It was frighteningly satisfying, as my teeth plunged into her neck. As I felt the throb of her pulse travel up my teeth and into my jaw.

Just before we hit, I twisted, pulling my teeth from her neck, and landed on top of her.

That didn't stop my legs from snapping like twigs. No, there was an enormous crack as several of her ribs and three of my legs crumpled. I roared painfully as I rolled off of her, unable to stand. I began to demorph immediately.

Human once more, I stared.

It was huge. Seven feet long, thirteen including that sinewy, ringed tail, over three hundred pounds of dying liquid metal. I felt nauseous, suddenly, staring at the blood-orange creature bleeding to death.

Had I done that?

Me, Diane, really done that?

I shuddered, shivered, and ran. I ran up a flight of stairs, down a concourse. I don't know why I ran, really; I just couldn't face that thing, that huge monster, that...

... that human I had killed.

No! Tigress. It was an animal! Animal! It wasn't human! It wasn't murder! You can't murder animals!

I forced myself to stop, to think. I was outside a jewelry store. I looked in: it was some sort of display about not wasting time with other stores. A bunch of crummy, wind-up alarm clocks were displayed around some tacky-looking jewelry. Sometimes I can't believe what people get paid for these days.

I looked up sharply as I heard a faint _whoosh_ overhead, just in time to see two shadows - one silent, the other gray. An owl, and a hawk.

The cavalry.

"Damn it," I muttered. Now I'd have to deal with more of them. I looked at the window, and smiled vaguely to myself. I hurried to squeeze myself against the grid blocking off the store entrance, where it'd be hard to see me from where Jack was. Without question, they'd go to her first.

The owl turned into Rich, the hawk the alien. Rich muttered something, and the alien went for the staircase. I grit my teeth, drew back my fist, and slammed it through the glass, grabbing one of the stupid alarm clocks. I grabbed it, wound it with my other hand, and dropped it back in the window. Then I bolted for the escalator.

Fur and muscle, claws and mane, tail and power... it was becoming second nature... within moments I was zooming low on the floor. At the last moment, Rich turned, saw me, and snapped one hand out to grab a railing Jack had broken. He threw himself outward, crashing back into the concourse as I shot past. It took a moment to get my footing on the smooth granite and stop, but in a moment, I returned, looking down at him.

He'd been so tough. So cruel. He hadn't even had a sympathetic expression, not even once. Not one word of compassion. It would be so easy to hate him... Now I looked down at him as he swung back and forth on the broken railing. Alarm clock, I told him. That's what the Andalite is chasing. I set it. He didn't answer. I resisted the urge to bare my teeth. All I have to do is bite your fingers, Richard. Aren't you going to beg for mercy? I sneered. All I had to do was hate him. It was as simple as that. Hate. Revenge. That was all I needed now. It was _his_ fault. _His_ fault. Remember, Diane, it was _him_. Nah, of course not. You're brave Richard. Richard the Lion-Hearted, meet Diane the Lion. I opened my mouth, turning it for the best possible angle... and he let go.

He let go!

I stared, shocked, as he fell. He twisted in midair, snagging a crossbeam with the hand he'd snagged the railing with before. He grunted in pain as he reached up with the other hand, and boosted himself onto the narrow beam. He knelt on it for a moment, then stood, facing me.

I stared at him, disbelieving. How had he done that?

He stared right back.

The eyes. Too intelligent. No! They looked at me.

I couldn't kill when they were looking at me! No! Those eyes!

Halfheartedly, I reached through the bars, but I already knew he was out of reach. I just wanted to warn him, make him worry. He teetered, but remained on the bar. That's okay, I told him coldly. I'm not a murderer, you know. I wouldn't kill a human. I would have smiled if I could have. If I made him squirm enough, maybe he'd lose his balance and kill himself. Now, a bird... a tigress... sure.

He stared at me with bloodthirsty eyes. "Find a place to hide," he snarled, his voice so similar to my own, in the form I had at the moment. "Because I'll make you a promise: I will kill you, Diane."

I laughed at him. Him, kill me? Hardly.

It was going to be the other way around.

I laughed as I walked away, leaving him on his stupid little beam.

He lost it before I had gone ten feet.

"I'll kill you!" he howled. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

Inwardly, I was happy to hear that.

It's so much easier to kill people who want to kill you.

What next? I asked myself, as I demorphed in another part of the mall.

I'd dealt with Toniya and Jack. I had Rich out for my blood. The alien was here. Who was left?

Chris, and Maria.

I smiled grimly, and began morphing again. Once I was light enough to use them, I spread my long wings and took to the air. It didn't take too long before I was fluttering my wings against a window. Hurry! I shouted at the person inside. Maria, open up! It's me! Oh, God, hurry up!

Maria rubbed her eyes grumpily as she came over and threw open the window. "What do _you_ want?" she muttered.

Hang on, let me demorph, I told her, landing on her window sill. I jumped down to the floor. I need to catch my breath. So easy. Right next to me was a baseball bat. Oh please! This was just too easy! I began to grow, forcing my weight forward so that, when I was human again, I was on my hands and knees, one of my hands on the bat.

What's so urgent? Maria demanded, changing over to thought-speak so her parents didn't overhear us. Good old Maria.

Your headache, I replied, getting both hands on the bat.

Huh?

Sweet dreams. I swung the bat in an upward arc, literally bunting Maria's forehead with it. She fell to the floor with a muffled _thump_. Quickly, I grabbed her wrist, felt the tingle of her DNA enter my veins, then dragged her to the closet. She might have an attitude, but she wasn't Rich. I couldn't consider outright killing her, not while she was human. She came to as I bound her wrists with one of her own belts, and slammed the door in her face. I morphed once more. I climbed into her bed, falling asleep almost immediately and completely by accident. Morphing repeatedly takes a lot out of you.

Maria! Maria! Wake up! Wake up, now!

I jerked awake. Where was I? I rolled halfway over, kicking the blankets of the unfamiliar bed off of me.

Wake up! the same voice yelled.

I sat up, looked around. Where-? Maria's room, I realized. I'd fallen asleep. I rubbed my face, looked at the clock. Only half an hour, I was okay.

Maria, it's me, Rich. I'm outside. Are you alone in your room?

I was careful to keep my expression neutral. What a moron! I nodded, yes, I was alone. Alone with an idiot knocked out in the closet. I got out of the bed, picking up the baseball bat again. I held it behind me as I approached the window.

Swoooosh! Obviously, it wasn't Rich, with his owl morph. Instead, a gray hawk got a beakful of pine as I knocked it straight out the window again. Most of its beak landed inside the room, while the bird was definitely knocked _outside_. I chuckled softly. Down one alien.

The surprise was gone. I morphed out. Then I morphed again, back to eagle. It was time to finish what I'd started.

Rich was going down.

Rich turned tail. I would have scowled if I could - the Andalite was morphing out. No matter. He was small beans. I'd taken out Jack. If I could take Jack, I could take any of them.

Follow me, Diane, Rich sneered. We'll see who rules the sky.

Brave words, I sneered right back. But you're mine, just as that Bird-bitch of yours was mine.

There was a long pause before Rich said anything. I barely heard him.

For you, Tonni, he whispered.

Inwardly, I smiled. This would be a fair fight, now.

Revenge against revenge.

We flew through the cool air. Rich had no chance: my wings were gigantic compared to his. He put me through quite a drill, but I never lost him. Never quite caught up, but never lost sight of him.

You're very good, Richard, I told him. You know, I wish I didn't have to do this. That wasn't true. I wished I did. I was having a hard time convincing myself I did. I tried not to think about it. I had to keep him talking, had to keep myself focused.

Yeah, but you just can't help yourself, he sneered.

You all left me no choice! I snapped. You forced me. What was I supposed to do? Let Jack order me around, let her get me killed? Spend the rest of my life hiding?

Do you expect me to pity you?

I lost my family. Everything! All thanks to all of you!

What are you, _nuts_? We're not your problem - at least we weren't, until you messed with us.

We left the trees and houses he'd used as cover behind, as we flew over an open field. I poured on the speed. He dodged, but I'd expected it.

Up ahead, I saw his target - high power lines. He was going to _fry_ me?

Golden eagle fricassee?

No mercy?

Well, then, Richard... no mercy.

He had no chance. He'd lost his luck. I snatched him out of thin air. Aaaahhh! he screamed as I dug my talons into his back. Noooooo! he howled. He beat his wings, but it was useless: he was mine. I squeezed, harder and harder, carrying him higher. Now, if he tried demorphing, I'd drop _him_ on the high power lines. It would be his fault if he met the same fate as he had planned for me.

Sorry, Rich, I told him. But, after all, birds die all the time, don't they?

That's when it happened. I never saw it coming.

One moment, Rich was almost mine.

Then, something slammed into the back of my head, shaving off most of my feathers. I screamed.

Rich, is it me, or is Di getting to be a real pain in the ass?

I let go - I had to. That voice, it - no! It had to be Maria - she was the only one left. I'd gotten Jack and Toniya. It had to be Maria - she had to have gotten loose. The alien! He had to be here, too! He must have let her free. Rich flapped his wings, a little awkwardly, but he flew. He could still retaliate. Three against one. With a scream of frustration, I flew away.

_That was a lifetime ago. Several lifetimes ago. That was someone else. I don't know who, but that isn't me. I can hardly believe it ever was._

Sure, I still live with a fear everyday. But it isn't the same fear anymore. Now, I'm not afraid that I won't get revenge on every jackass who's ruined my life. I've kind of realized that, eventually, that'd either get me killed, or have me kill every single person on the planet. I wasn't up to that.

Cassie told me a bit of David, my counterpart. How he was able to morph Jake and Rachel's cousin Saddler.

I hadn't. I'd reached for Sandra... but then I'd pulled away. I just couldn't do it. For some reason, I had this horrible picture of myself, of being in that bed, trapped. Doomed. Dying.

For a moment, a split second, I felt myself dying.

I had run. Instead of sealing my doom as a rat, I'd run straight to the Yeerk pool, against Rich's warning of what would happen to my family.

They'd come after me, the morons. Dragged me out just as a Yeerk got in me. Jack - damn Jack! - dragged me out with her teeth. She took me deep into the woods, broke both my legs, and sat. For three straight days, she sat, watching me. Not moving. The Yeerk and I alternated being awake, but she stayed there, awake, the entire time. Even as my feet turned gangrene, she didn't let me morph. She put it quite simply: "You morph, I break your neck. Your choice."

The Yeerk in me was an idiot. By the third day, Jack couldn't walk, she was so exhausted and hungry. But so was I. Plus, the infection had spread through my body. I was dying, and it became a war of wills: Jack's over the Yeerks. I was just a bystander dying on the sidelines.

At long last, the Yeerk died. Jack let me morph. I survived. We half-dragged each other back to civilization.

I can never forgive her for that.

And I can never thank her enough.

CHAPTER 41

Diane

I shook her until her head rattled. "Don't you get it?" I screamed at her. "The Rip is open again!"

Rachel grabbed my wrist, whipping me back. For an insane moment, I made a fist. I was going to smash her teeth in. _Nobody_ treated me like that!

But I got a grip on myself. This wasn't the time. Rachel wasn't an enemy. Save the anger for the enemy. That's how I got by now - save the anger for the enemy.

Deal with life calmly.

Save the anger for the war.

Maria stared at me, half because she still wasn't quite willing to accept that I was there, half because she was probably trying to get the room to hold still. "I get it," she said.

"It's about time," I snapped. Then I flopped on the bed next to her. "So what're we going to do about it, then?"

"The others have to know about this," Maria said. "We have to get them."

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing gets done when we conference," I told them flatly. "Between the three of us, we should be able to figure out what to do."

"That's not how we work," Rachel said coldly.

Maria sighed. "Rachel, I know it's bad for cover, but could you call the others outside? I need to talk with Diane a moment."

Rachel frowned a little. "Kicked out of my own room by Marco," she muttered. "That's the day." She shook her head, but left.

I turned to look at Maria. She had an odd half smile on her face. "What's your problem?" I demanded.

She chuckled softly. "I'm too relieved, I guess," she replied. "Rachel's actually got a sense of humor in there and I have another familiar face." She looked at me seriously. "I am going to hug you."

"Maybe later," I told her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I lied. I wanted to hug you." Before I could get away she hugged me. She made it quick, though. "Now, tell me everything. What's been going on there?"

"Probably the exact same thing as here," I replied curtly. Who cared? "Seia Fel got stuck in the newest - and now deceased - Yeerk base and I nearly got killed saving her ass. She said that, though there's been no change in the valley, Fel Teval and Tari Ari disappeared, along with some others, while on a raid run."

"Those two are here," she told me. "_We_ just rescued them from what was probably the same base." She sighed. "Oh, Diane, I can't tell you how relieved I am to know they're all right."

"Who?"

"Tobias, Toniya. Oh, God, I was sure I'd killed them." She drew up her knees, hugging them, and shuddered. "I was so, so sure I had killed them. That they were dead. I had Rachel hating me here, and I was sure Al hated me, and everybody hated me. I knew Marc-" She sobbed, resting her forehead on her knees. "Oh, God, Diane, I am so, so sick."

"Sick?" I echoed, not understanding. "You're not going to puke, are you?"

She chuckled weakly, shaking her head. "I am a perverted, twisted, disgusting..."

"Would you stop listing what you are and tell me why, or should I just leave you to feel sorry for yourself?" I demanded.

She looked at me, tears streaming down her face. "Shut up," she snapped. "You just shut up. You have no idea what it's been like. You have no idea what it's like to totally lose everything and have to start over."

"I don't, don't I?" I demanded sharply. "Oh, getting kidnapped by you guys doesn't qualify? Having my parents get taken by those filthy slugs doesn't count? Having my house demolished by your stupid fight and having to live with that damn alien doesn't make me lose _everything_? What _didn't_ I lose, huh? I have _no_ idea?" I snarled. "Remember who you're talking to!"

She swallowed heavily, blinking. She let go of her knees and sighed. "I'm sorry, Diane," she said softly.

"You should be," I snapped.

"I forgot, okay? I'm upset."

"No, it's _not_ okay! It's _not_ okay that my mom and dad are-" I cut myself off before I said too much. There was no telling how many of those bastards might be in the house. "It is _not_ okay," I hissed, clenching my fists. "It was _never_ okay."

"Marco kissed me."

"So what."

"Diane," she snapped, glaring at me. "_My counterpart kissed me_."

"So?"

"Oh, forget it!" she yelled, throwing up her hands. "I should've known it'd be over your head. Your counterpart's a rat and so are you."

I grit my teeth, biting back an answer. I was _not_ going to get into _another_ fight. Bad enough that was about all I was doing with Jack now. I wasn't going to start it again. I wasn't going to waste my time.

Rachel returned, then looked at each of us. "Don't get too cozy," she remarked. "We have a barn to get to."

I shoved passed her, trying to get as far away from Maria as I could before I did something I'd regret.

"Go to hell," I muttered.

CHAPTER 42

Jake

"So," Diane finished, "Tobias is happily living with his 'sister' and his dad. No problems beyond the usual near-death experiences. We're all alive. Now if we can just figure out why the hell I'm here, maybe I can go back to living in the woods in an empty scoop."

Marco snickered, but it was forced. Something was wrong with him and Maria. They were as far away from each other as they could get without being dead obvious, and hadn't shared a joke the entire time. They'd arrived separately, and hadn't said a single word to each other. "You had to live with Ax?"

"Ax_el_," she corrected him. "And it was either that or rot in this - the other - the barn. At least the woods don't smell as bad, and the scoop gets cable." She crossed her arms, scowling. "So, Rachel and Maria insisted on dragging the rest of you in here. What now? Anybody have any bright ideas?"

"The Jacqueline Rip is open again," Cassie said, "or at least unplugged. "But why?"

"Maybe something ate my counterpart," Diane snapped. "Who cares why? We need to figure out how, as in, how to destroy it. To hell with plugging it up. We have to get rid of that thing entirely."

"As far as we know, that Rip has been there since before we were born," I disagreed. "Maybe from the beginning of time, who knows? The problem isn't destroying it. We have to get it back to normal. Back to however big it was, when its effects were limited to... well, whatever they were before."

"How do you know it even existed before?" Diane demanded.

"How do you know it didn't?" I replied calmly. She scowled, but didn't give me a reason, so I didn't give her one, either. That was good, because I didn't have one. It was just a hunch. An extremely powerful hunch, but a hunch without any proof. "But I agree. We _have_ to find a way to return our realities to normal."

Marco rolled his eyes. He held one hand in the air, palm down, then wrapped his fingers around an imaginary telephone receiver. He stabbed the air under it with his finger, then held the "receiver" to his ear. "Hello, Ellimist?" he said. "Yeah, this is your old buddy, Marco. Yeah, Marco, the one who saved your Iskoort. Yeah, uh huh, same Marco. Yeah! I'm fine. Listen, we're having reality problems here. Could you come and help patch them up? Okay, thanks, you're swell."

"Why thank you, Marco."

It would have been kind of funny to see all six of turn at once.

"As Chris's mother is not here at the moment, I have assumed her form for the moment," a woman who looked eerily like Cassie's dad said. "To tell the truth, friends, your maneuver to 'plug' the rip between universes backfired. In truth, it is not Maria and Diane who are in the wrong dimension. It is the rest of you."

I looked at Rachel, who was next to me. She looked back, equally confused. "How can that be?" she asked the creature who wasn't Chris's mother. "That's ridiculous. I mean, everything's normal. There's squirrels, and wolves, and... how could most of one universe get stuck in the other?"

"She" shrugged a little, smiling faintly. "It was simply a matter of timing," "she" replied. "Your calculations weren't so far off. You simply didn't realize that you were doing things backwards."

"Backwards?" Maria echoed.

The Ellimist - who else could it be? - nodded slightly. "It is not a matter of separating the universes," it said. "It is a matter of bringing them together. You cannot destroy the Jacqueline Rip. You must create it."

"But it's already there," Diane sneered. "Aren't we a little _late_ to _create_ it?"

"To seal the Rip," the creature said coldly, "you cannot separate the universes. You can only bring them together." "She" smiled a little. "My friends, this was never a matter of separation. This is a union - a union which you shall never see, never feel, but one that exists - and _must_ exist." "She" regarded me. "How do you imagine time, Jake?"

I frowned a little. "It's..."

"It's like a tree," she answered for me, "which splits into two when there is a choice: should something happen, should it not happen. But sometimes, Jake, it is not so simple. Sometimes, it is necessary that something happen, _and_ not happen. And you know where to find that something... don't you, Jake."

One moment, she was there, the next, she wasn't.

"What the hell did she just babble?" Diane demanded.

Everyone was looking at me. I took a deep breath, trying to think of how to word this.

Yes, I knew. I had sort of known all along, but could never consider it. It was too dangerous, too inclined _not_ to work. But if the Ellimist said it was necessary... well, we were kind of out of options.

"We have to go back into the Rip," I said.

CHAPTER 43

Tobias

"We have to go back into the Rip."

We stared at Jack, not really knowing what to say.

Chris had the best position to stare at her, what with his arm around her waist. They were a far cry from Jake and Cassie, who generally tried to pretend there was nothing serious between them. The two of them were inseparable.

Toniya and I perched together in the rafters. We'd been kind of hard to separate, too, but in a totally different way. When I was with Toniya, it was like having the sister I'd never had. It had always hurt, being shuttled from place to place, being always alone. Though I'd usually imagined having a brother, not a sister, Toniya was better than any imaginary sibling. None of the brothers I had imagined would have understood being a _nothlit_ anywhere near as much as Toniya did.

Below us, Elfangor frowned, but didn't comment.

Being trapped in this universe was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

Here, for the first time, I had a _family_. Not like the Animorphs back home, who I considered my family, but a _real_ family. Though I could never call him it - it just didn't seem _right_ - Elfangor was a great father. Understanding but stern, easy-going but not a pushover. It had been strange, the first time I'd gone hunting with Toniya, and Elfangor went along. But, after we'd each caught something, Elfangor put each kill in this sort of pouch that kept it in the same, just-killed condition the entire way back to the house. It was the weirdest family dinner ever - Toniya pulling apart two rats, me a rabbit, and Elfangor calmly eating pot roast and potatoes. Strange or not, though, it _was_ a family dinner. We talked in thought-speak as we ate. That's the nice thing about thought-speak - it isn't impolite to use it while eating. The family dinner thing was a once a week type thing, but I loved it. I got to know Elfangor, and he got to know me. It was a dream come true.

But now that the dream had come true, I wanted to go home.

It had struck me hard, the first time I realized I was homesick. I wondered what was wrong with me. I finally had a family! A _real_ family! A father, a sister, who understood me, loved me! Wanted me!

But I missed my old field, which was just a patch of trees here. I missed Ax... though I knew he wouldn't be there, back home, I still missed him. I missed Jake, Marco, and Cassie.

But mostly, I missed Rachel.

Standing a little apart, as he always did, Rich frowned. We got along okay, I guess. He definitely wasn't Rachel. Actually, he was more like Jake. "Then what?"

Jack shook her head. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "Ever since we went through, I've had the nagging thought that, if we went through again, things might improve. But I didn't know. It was too dangerous. Things were going okay, right? Who here would take back the last month of their lives, huh? Chris? Rich? Tobias? Would any of you like to erase the last month of your lives?"

No, I replied. But I'm ready to go home.

Toniya looked at me. You... She trailed off. As always, she understood, but she didn't always understand right away. She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side, but she didn't fool me. She wasn't smiling at all.

I'll miss you, too, I told her.

You'd better, she replied.

Promise.

*

It didn't take long to get back to where we'd started from. Back to the field in the middle of nowhere.

It felt strange, going on a mission without Diane. But no one could find her. Toniya and I had combed the woods for her, but she was nowhere to be found. We just had to hope that we could do this without her, whatever "this" was.

"Why do I get this feeling that your 'Ellimist' guy is pulling our strings just like our all-powerful pain-in-the-butt did?" Rich asked me.

I would have shrugged, but hawks don't shrug. I don't know. Do you have ESP or something?

He laughed. "I doubt it, but let's check. Think of a number between two and four. Is it three?"

Actually, I was thinking of pi.

"Cheater." He clapped his hands together. "So let's do this! We don't have all day. My dad'll have my hide if I don't call him in about an hour."

Rich was actually okay, considering what he had to put up with now. Not only was he trying to be an Animorph again, but his dad enforced strict rules. If he went out, he had to call home every three hours. His curfew was at six at night, except with permission, which was hard to get. He was going to a psychiatrist four times a week. In spite of all that, he was able to smile and laugh. But still, he never quite seemed relaxed, or happy. He now had that _something_ about him that Jake and Jack did, that feeling that he hid several decades of experience and wisdom and pain under a teenaged face.

"There's no telling how it's going to be in there," Jack said. "I suggest lifechain again." Rich nodded.

One of the odd things I'd noticed was the about-face Jack did after we'd returned from the Jacqueline Rip the first time. Instead of being the don't-mess-with-me, my-way-or-the-highway leader she'd looked like when we were switching universes. She was much more democratic. Instead of saying, "There's no telling how it's going to be in there, make a lifechain," she _suggested_ that it be what they did. I think it had something to do with Rich coming back. Maybe it was what they used to do, sort of co-lead. Or maybe it was how she chose to deal with the fact that she now had to keep Rich _and_ Diane, both extremely stubborn people, working with the team. Diane was no less of a pain in the ass than David had been, but she was smart. What she didn't have in personality she made up for in getting straight to the root of problems. Unfortunately, she had a tendency of creating more problems along the way.

The others waited for Toniya and I to morph to human before we made the chain. There would be no repeat mistakes. Rich insisted on going first. Jack was right next to him, and Chris next to her. Both Elfangor and Toniya seemed to want to keep me on, but one thing was clear: if it was the hellhole it had been before, I had to be on an end, so I could let go without taking anyone with me. It was kind of funny, though: they turned their backs to the others and did rock, paper, scissors. Elfangor did paper. Toniya did scissors. We took our places.

Toniya squeezed my wrist. "I won't be letting go willingly," she told me with a faint smile.

"I won't be letting go unless I have to," I replied.

She let go of my wrist for a moment to hug me around the shoulders. I hugged her back. "I will never forget you, Tobias."

"I will never forget any of this." Neither of us like being held much, anymore. The hug was quick. We gripped each other's wrists again.

"Everybody set?" Jack asked us. Everyone nodded: nobody said anything out loud, except Rich.

"Let's do it," he said, true to form.

He reached out, to where the hole in reality had been. For a moment, nothing happened, but then he felt around, and his hand disappeared. "I don't feel anything," he told us. "No pull. Here goes everything."

One by one, we stepped into nothingness. When it was my turn, I held my breath. I don't know why: it just seemed right.

One moment, it looked as if I was going to walk across a field, but then the field disappeared, to be replaced by dark, greenish-purple fog. Existence just seemed to... stop. There was no wind, no tunnels, nothing. Just emptiness, and the six of us.

"This isn't where we were last time," Toniya pointed out, letting go of me and Elfangor. She frowned slightly. "What is this place? It's almost like that place Enienek would take us when she pulled us from existence."

"Who?" I asked. I was looking around, too.

She said something, but I didn't hear her.

Through the fog, I saw something move. Something with four legs.

"Who's there!" I shouted. The others looked at me oddly.

Tobias?

My mouth fell open. "_Ax_?"

The thing came quickly towards us, followed by an identical form. Suddenly, they burst through the fog, identical except that one was slightly larger and slightly darker than the other.

"Axel!" Jack cried, grinning. "Damn you, four eyes, where have you _been_!"

Awaiting your arrival patiently, Princess Jack, the darker one replied dryly. He bowed his upper body gracefully, his stalk eyes bobbing. It is good to see you again. He looked at us. Where is Diane? Maria? Why is Tobias with you?

"It's a long story," I replied. "Great to see you again, Ax-man."

I am pleased to see you as well, Tobias, Ax replied. Same old Ax. I liked my universe's Ax better. No offense to Axel or anything, but his sense of humor really needed work.

"So what now?" Rich asked nobody in particular. "We just stand and rot in here? Where _is_ here, anyway? This isn't the Jacqueline Rip."

_ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED._

"Oh, boy," Rich said, rolling his eyes. "Not the big voice again."

"That... that's not the Ellimist," I said. The voice was different. It had a definite feminine quality, with an odd, sort of feline quality thrown in, too. Not at all like the Ellimist's voice.

"Of course it's not," Toniya replied. "We're not in your universe anymore. That's The Enienek." I looked at her oddly. "We don't have an Ellimist. We have an Enienek."

"Oh."

"Tobias! Tobias?"

My head jerked left. "Rachel?"

More forms were coming through the fog. Human forms. Three sort of short, two sort of tall, one in the middle. As they stepped through the fog, we could see that two were blond girls, one a black girl, one a brown-haired boy, two a boy and a girl who looked eerily alike.

ALL IS AS IT MUST BE. THE STAGE IS SET.

"That'd be the Ellimist again," I said. Toniya nodded.

_SAY GOODBYE NOW, FRIENDS,_ Enienek told us. _YOU WILL NOT GET THE CHANCE AGAIN._

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marco demanded. Maria frowned a little.

YOU HAVE DONE WELL, the Ellimist said. NOW, WE WILL FINISH WHAT YOU HAVE STARTED.

"So this is over?" Diane asked.

It had better be! A new form leaped through the fog. It was much smaller than any of us, a rodent with a long tail. I got _eaten_! _Eaten!_

Jake, Maria, Marco, Cassie, and Rachel all looked at Diane. She frowned a little. "I didn't _know_," she told them defensively. I wondered what she meant.

CHAPTER 44

The groups collectively said goodbye to each other, then, in unspoken agreement, separated by counterparts.

Jake and Jack faced each other. Small, sad smiles appeared on their faces at the same time. As if they'd done it many times before, the two of them reached out with their right hands and shook. "Good luck," Jake said.

Jack nodded slightly, then reached behind him with her left hand and gave him a slight hug. "You, too," she said, then let go.

*

Rich and Rachel shared equal glares. The only reason Rachel didn't have her arms crossed was that Rich had beaten her to it. "Can't say I'll miss you," she muttered.

"Me neither," he replied. Suddenly he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Look. I'm you. I'm not a coward."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"It's not enough that I'm giving this another shot, is it?" She didn't bother answering. "Do you want me to apologize? I'm not going to. I did what I felt was right, so I can't say I'm sorry for it. I _am_ sorry for putter people in danger for what I've done, but I'm not sorry for doing it. I didn't mean for people to get hurt. I did what I had to. You understand that. If you don't, no one does."

She glared at him. They both knew he was right, but they also knew she would never admit it. He held out his hand. "Goodbye, Rachel."

She would never admit he was right - aloud. Her handshake admitted enough. "Goodbye, Richard."

*

The two Aximilis sort of stared at each other for awhile.

We won, Axel said.

Yes, Ax agreed.

Axel looked around at the others. It seems human say goodbye in this manner. He held out his right hand.

Yes. I have seen this. Ax shook his hand.

Of course, goodbye isn't really an appropriate thing to say.

No, it is not. I would not consider saying goodbye to myself - it would seem suicidal.

Axel looked at him for a moment. Was... that a _joke_, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill?

Ax waved his stalk eyes in a manner equivalent to a shrug. An attempt.

Keep up the good work. It was a pleasure to meet you.

And you as well. Farewell.

And you.

*

Cassie and Chris shared smiles, then gave each other a hug.

"Don't let him get away, Cass," he teased her. He smiled at her blush. "Take it from one who knows. _You're_ the one who has to take the initiative."

"I know," she replied ruefully. "Jack told me."

He chuckled, and hugged her again. "It's worth it," he assured her. "Embarrassing, stressful, often downright depressing... but worth all the tea in China."

Cassie laughed. "Your mom says that too?"

He shook his head, smiling. "Nah. My dad's the one full of wise sayings."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot."

"I don't blame you." He kissed her on her forehead. "Take care of yourself, and everyone else," he told her. "I'll cover my end."

"Deal," she agreed, and they parted ways.

*

Toniya and Tobias, their faces equally blank, stood facing each other.

"I'll miss you," Tonni said. Tobias nodded. He stepped forward to say goodbye, but Tonni shook her head. "No, not yet," she said, taking a step backwards. She turned around, away from him. "Dad?"

Elfangor stepped forward, standing beside Toniya. He smiled his sad smile at Tobias. "It was a great honor to meet you, Tobias," he said, his voice soft yet strong, proud, yet sad. "I will never forget you. Toniya has never disappointed me, and neither did you. It would have been the greatest of honors to call you my son."

Tobias didn't smile. His face didn't twitch, didn't respond.

His voice did.

"Thank you, Elfangor," he said, his voice equally soft and strong, proud and sad. He stepped forward, and allowed Elfangor to hold him close, firmly, but not crushing.

Tonni came forward, to embrace them both.

Here, too, goodbye went unsaid.

*

Nothing was said for a long time.

"Say something," Marco finally asked her, but he didn't look up.

Neither did she. "Too late. You did."

They looked up at the same time. "Look-" They stopped. "You first. No- fine, I'll-"

"Stop it!" Maria cried, then started giggling.

Marco smiled. "I don't want to say goodbye," he said softly.

"Then don't." Maria tried to smile, but failed. She stepped toward him, kissing him gently on the cheek, pulling away.

"Maybe it'll be like this never happened," he suggested.

"I hope not!" She put her hand against his cheek. "Marco, if I'd never met you, I would hate myself."

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not, and you know it. You hated yourself. You hated all the times you failed your mom. You hated that you could see the clear, bright, ruthless line better than anyone else. You hated that, underneath your short, cute exterior was the most terrible monster you have ever witnessed - a thousand times worse than anything Visser Three could morph. I _know_, Marco," she insisted, before he could deny it, "because I did, too. I hated all that in me. But then I met you... and I realized that neither of us are evil." She hugged him. Stiffly at first, then more naturally, he returned her embrace. "Thank you, Marco."

"Thank you," he echoed. Then he pulled away. "Do we really _have_ to say goodbye? I mean-"

She grinned. "I don't think that's really necessary." Her smile faded. "Marco, someday, Visser One is going to die. That day, your mom... my dad... they're going to smile. And when they do, we'll be together again."

Marco thought about it for a moment, then kissed her on the cheek. He grinned, but the expression only brushed his eyes, not taking hold. "See you later, then," he said.

*

"Jerk," Diane muttered.

Witch, David sneered in reply.

"Moron."

Idiot.

"Bastard!"

Bitch!

Theirs was the easiest parting.

CHAPTER 45

Enienek

Farewells being said - not goodbyes, because only one pair had chosen to pretend they were parting - the two groups came back together, then separated again. I myself remained beside Ellimist.

_It was good to see you again_, I told him in our own, silent "tongue".

Yes, he agreed. Sad that we are spreading so thin.

_Some branches are already under Crayak's reign_.

I know. There is nothing we can do.

I did our equivalent of nodding. _Temporality has been reached_, I pointed out.

Ellimist turned his attention to the mortals. So it has, he murmured. He "smiled", just slightly. Would you like the honor, Enienek?

_They are of our timelines_, I pointed out. _We must both separate them as they should be_.

True... true.

I turned my attention to the groups of mortals. Unintentionally, they had organized themselves in very similar ways.

Ellimist's Chosen clustered around the one called Jake, who had his left arm around Cassie's waist. Marco stood at his right. Ellimist's Aximili stood just behind Jake, his tail protectively at ready. Tobias and Rachel stood next to that Aximili, their fingers intertwined where none of the other mortals could see. David crouched in front of the group, making his attempts to ignore them obvious.

My own Chosen clustered around Jack. Chris stood at her left, his arm around her waist instead of vice versa. Maria stood close to her right, her "poker face" hiding her pain from all but myself. My own Aximili stood just behind Jack, his tail slightly lazier than Ellimist's Aximili. Toniya stood between my Aximili and Elfangor, one hand at the base of Aximili's human-like back, the other enfolded in one of Elfangor's hands. Diane stood between Elfangor and Rich, and glared at the latter. Rich stood, slightly apart, his arms crossed and expression blank.

All he knew of this moment was his apprehension for what was to come. Only I knew how happy he was, deep inside, that he was finally going home.

It was a happiness shared by many, shown by none.

Mortals are simple, especially the physically-based ones. They have difficulty perceiving the effects of overlapping dimensions, being too engrossed in their own. That is why early crosses between these two were overlooked - they were beyond physical comprehension, and therefore rationalized as "normal". That was why, with these counterparts, some had used morphs they had never acquired, or had abilities they should not have, such as the ability to use thought-speak out of morph for Ellimist's Animorphs, or the fact that Toniya became a _nothlit_ before her four-hour limit was spent. It is only when faced with duplication, not inversion, that physical mortals are able to realize the greater complexity they are normally unaware of.

Ellimist and I overlapped our essences, so that we partially occupied the same space. Now, the mortals would perceive only one of us, not both. It was better that way. On your mark, Enienek, he told me.

_ARE YOU PREPARED?_ I asked the two groups.

Jake looked at Ellimist. Jack looked at me. In their limited capacity, they could only perceive the one of us in tune to their timeline. They could hear us both, but only believed one was there, that only one was speaking. Ellimist's Animorphs only perceived Ellimist, and my Animorphs only perceived Enienek.

"Do it," the two leaders said.

If I were not myself, it would have seemed as if they were one in the same.

Which they were.

And yet they weren't.

Physical mortals cannot hope to understand.

The two groups looked at each other.

Jack and Jake nodded to each other.

Rachel and Rich avoided each other's eyes.

Tobias and Toniya, their emotions hidden behind blank expressions, simply stared at each other.

The Aximilis shared another private farewell.

Cassie and Chris traded silent smiles of encouragement.

Maria and Marco waved to one another with an empty grin.

David and Diane traded one last, spiteful glare, then ignored each other.

At that point, Ellimist and I fully integrated our essences, so that, for the briefest of moments, there was only one of us.

In the same way, the two groups of Animorphs collided, merging, so that there were no longer two, but one.

And so it was over.

CHAPTER 46

Enienek

And yet, it wasn't.

Before even my race, something occurred which caused every choice to occur. Fate is not about something happening, or not happening: it is about choosing to take the path in which it does, or does not.

This time was no different.

In one direction, the direction of Ellimist and myself, the realities separated. His Animorphs returned to where they belonged, and mine returned to their place.

But in another, the mergence did not succeed. Rather, Ellimist and I became merged as our two timelines became one. As the number of Animorphs grew from six or eight to fourteen. As the Yeerks equally doubled, and Andalites as well. As the universe itself doubled.

And yet, only Crayak remained whole, and the number of my people remained at one.

Ellimist and I regarded the youngest of our people.

_Ellinek, or Enienist?_ I asked them rather jokingly.

They would have shrugged noncommittedly, if it was in our nature. _I_ s_h_a_l_l _d_e_c_i_d_e _t_h_a_t _s_o_m_e _o_t_h_e_r_ t_i_m_e_. F_a_r_e_w_e_l_l_ a_n_d _g_o_o_d_ l_u_c_k.

Farewell and good luck, Ellimist echoed.

_Farewell and good luck_, I agreed.

My people do not believe in "goodbye".

CHAPTER 47

Jake

It's the day before Finals Week.

I sat at my desk. I sat with my elbows on the desk, my attention focused on my history textbook. The radio was off. The door was closed. My dog, Homer, was on the other side of the door. There were absolutely, positively, NO physical distractions.

I looked dead serious about studying.

Needless to say, I wasn't. I was jumping out of my skin. I stared blankly at the textbook, whose words had blurred together a long time ago; I hadn't read a single sentence, much less turned a page, in at least twenty minutes.

I was waiting.

I waited a long time.

I looked up.

There was no sound of the key in the lock. The door didn't creak open and shut. There was no sound of bare feet BUNKing down the hall.

I stood up, opened the door.

Homer looked up from where he lay just beside the door and whined, hurt that I'd locked him out.

I hurried down the hall, through the kitchen, through the living room. I clicked off the lock and slammed the door open.

Nothing.

No brown-haired, bare-footed girl in a green leotard. That meant no Jacqueline Rip, no paradox, nothing.

The phone rang.

Sighing, I closed the door, locked it, and got the phone.

"Jake?" It was Marco.

"She didn't come," I said. He was silent. "Sorry, man. I know you and Maria were close."

"Yeah." He hung up without saying anything more.

I called the others, saying simply, "She didn't come.

They all knew what I meant.

Everything was back to normal.

For the first time, I wished it wasn't.

CHAPTER 48

Jack

I ran home on four furry legs. I'd lost the pursuit, but that was balanced by the fact that I'd lost a pair of jeans, a good shirt, my best sneakers, and my lucky socks. I was really sulking over the socks.

I'm not always the most logical person. So sue me.

A car horn blasted me as I ran across the street, but I didn't care.

I leaped the neighbor's fence awkwardly, and hid in the shadows to demorph from Homer's form. Good thing I'd had the common sense to take the door key out of my jeans and stash it under the elastic of the arm of my morphing outfit. I pulled it out of the short sleeve, where it was sitting on my shoulder. I hurried up the front steps, unlocked the door, went in quick, and shut the door behind me.

I hurried into the kitchen, my heart pounding. I looked at the refrigerator.

A yellow slip of paper read, "Gone to Maria's, emergency! Be back soon."

It was still there.

Instead of feeling the usual relief, I felt my stomach sinking into the floor.

I went down the hall, pausing outside my room. Homer looked up at me from where he lay outside my door, then closed his eyes again. I gripped the doorknob for a moment, then slammed the door open.

The desk chair was empty.

The room was normal.

Just to be sure, I checked Tara's room. That was normal, too.

I called the others. I simply told them, "I'm not going this time."

They all knew what I meant.

Everything was back to normal.

For the first time, I wished it wasn't.

CHAPTER 49

Enienek

No story, no epic, has an end. Or a beginning. Or even a set path.

My path and Ellimist's shall cross again. Perhaps, we shall have to create another, like the one who has chosen Ellinek for their title, and female for their essence.

Existence is like a tree, each possibility branching out. Branches intertwine as separate paths create the same result. Nothing remembered what caused the initial branching - or, if something does, it has yet to reveal itself.

But a tree cannot stand alone. It is affected by outside things.

It is greatly affected by winds. Winds of chance, gusts of order, storms of necessity.

Especially by the powerful force of necessity.

Winds of chance cause branches that normally stand alone to clash together briefly, again and again. But a storm, like necessity, can interlock such branches together, permanently.

Winds do not come only once.

This epic is far from an end.

No epic has an end.

But this... this is a good place... to pause....

__

Don't leave me yet! Watch for 

Animorphs Dementia: The Convergence

the real_ finale of Animorphs Dementia._


End file.
